Frailty of the Righteous One
by The Silent Scream
Summary: An ancient artifact is given to the Scoobie Gang, along with a plea to keep and protect it. Quickly, they learn that protecting it is quite necessary, and that they have to avert yet another apocalypse - something the powers of said artifact might make a bit easier than expected. Willow / OC est. relationship, rating for violence and cursing.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: You know the drill. Buffy, not mine (sadly). The artefact mentioned in this story was heavily inspired by a similar one used in the show Lost Girl.

Author's Note: As promised, here we go with the next one. Enjoy! Feedback is, as always, highly appreciated.

* * *

Frailty of the Righteous One

The tremendously loud sound of shattering glass broke the silence of the night as the bulky, horned demon jumped through it, landing on the street with a loud thud, hard enough to set off the alarms of several of the cars parked along the sidewalk.

Ignoring the ruckus he had created, the demon clutched the package tightly and ran, his breaths sounding awfully loud through the night; and half a minute later, several more of the bulky, horned creatures came pouring out of the window, snarling and growling as they took up the pursue, fear showing in the first demon's eyes as he kept running, clutching the bundle of leather he had taken from them tightly to his chest.

"Stop!" the demon leading the chase yelled, in a language no one but them could understand, a language which had officially died centuries ago, "traitor! Give it back!"

"Never!" he shot back, somehow managing to speed up even further; sweat formed on his bumpy brow as he kept running, to the one place where he knew he'd find someone to help him, knowing he had to get there before his former companions would catch up with him and that they'd be there to help. He had given his best to figure out their schedule before he had made his move, but deep inside, he knew that he might have made a mistake, that they might not always stick to the same rotation as to not end up being predictable…

The cemetery gate appeared up ahead of him, and it gave him new strength, the demons behind him howling in outrage as they realized what he was about to do; the sounds and the thoughts of what they would do to him, now that they had found out whom he was running to, should they catch him, made him run even faster, the sounds of fighting soon reaching his spiky ears and giving him the energy he needed to keep going.

A minute later, he spotted the ones he had been looking for, relief filling him as he approached them; so far, none of them had noticed them, the deceivingly fragile looking blonde and the taller one he knew to be a demon busy with battling a group of vampires, while the third member of the group, the one he was looking for, stood a few feet away, magic swirling and dancing around her hands as she made sure that none of the vampires would sneak up on one of the two fighters from behind, blasting them with her spells the second they tried to do so.

"Slayer!" he roared, gaining the attention of all three, and even making the vampires pause and look, their eyes widening as they spotted him and recognized him for what he was, then turned and ran off as fast as they could, to the obvious surprise of the trio they had been battling.

"What the Fuck", the black haired demon voiced that surprise, earning a reproachful look from the witch he knew to be her partner; now panting heavily, he approached them, wishing that he could raise his hands to signal that he meant them no harm, but unwilling to let go of the package, knowing how much depended on it.

"I come in peace", he said instead, "you must believe me, Chosen One…"

"More of them coming up!" Buffy interrupted him, raising her fists as the group of demons approached; the one leading them howled in anger at seeing their companion talk to the Slayer, the look of fear which appeared on the demon's face in reply showing the three women that for once, they were not the ones the demons were after.

Still, they all were reluctant to let the demon carrying the oblong, leather-wrapped object behind them, knowing that he might end up stabbing them in the back in quite the literal sense; and thus, Willow kept an eye on him, a binding spell readied in the back of her mind for the second he'd make the slightest suspicious move while Buffy and Pat moved to stand in front of them, blocking them from the sight of the advancing group of demons.

"Get away from him", the tallest and bulkiest of them snarled, sounding as if he wasn't really used to speaking English, "he's ours! None of your bushness!"

"I think he means business", Buffy told her taller companion, making the demon smirk and nod – before fire burst from her fists, a malicious glint in her good eye as she glared at the advancing demons, mildly amused when they all slowed down noticeably, clearly knowing who she and the smaller blonde next to her were.

"We have no quarrel with you", one of the smaller demons spoke up, clearly more fluent in English than the big guy in front of him, "it is our companion whom we want. We have no business with your friends and you, Chosen One."

"The world will end if you let them get to me", the demon who had approached them first threw in from behind, prompting Willow to look at him in surprise and worry, "you must believe me, if they get this, it is over…"

"What are you talking about?" the witch demanded to know, making him look at her as if he was seeing her for the first time, his voice trembling when he replied. "They want to do what we never must, you have to—"

The arrow came out of nowhere and hit him right in the throat, cutting him off; startled, Willow flinched back as hot, strangely thick and almost black blood splashed onto her, the demon letting out a low gurgling noise as he slumped down, thrusting the package he had been holding out to her, his eyes wide and full of pain.

"Take", he whispered, blood bubbling from his lips and running down his chin, "give… Chosen One…"

"Where the Hell did that bow come from?!" she heard Pat curse behind her, but found herself unable to look away as the demon held her gaze; and then, he thrust the package at her, and without thinking about it, she took it, hearing the other demons behind her howl in rage and dismay at the sight.

"Get it back!" the tallest one of them yelled, already moving forward – only to be met with a burning fist straight to the face, enough power behind the punch to make him stumble back a few steps, howls of pain coming from him as his skin blistered and reddened where the flames had made contact.

"Whatever it is, we can't let them get it!" Willow called out to them, clutching the package tightly to herself; at her feet, the demon reached up to grasp her wrist, making her look at him again, a harsh cough escaping him as he tried to speak once more.

"Keep", he brought out, a shuddery breath following the single word, "Chosen…"

"We'll keep it safe", she gave back, even though she wasn't even sure yet what exactly the demon had given her; he managed a smile, then his eyes rolled back into his head and he died, his final breath drowned out by the sounds of fighting behind the redhead.

"Take them down!" the leader demon snarled, performing a series of complicated looking gestures and causing both Buffy and Pat to raise an eyebrow in almost perfect unison as a sword appeared in his hand all at once; the other demons repeated the gestures, and moments later, they all were holding an assortment of weapons, ranging from spears to clubs and axes.

"Interesting", Buffy commented as she ducked the first clumsy swing made at her, "perhaps Willow can teach us how to do that."

"No need to", the taller woman gave back, sidestepping the spear which had been thrust at her just as clumsily, the moves of the demons showing that, even though they knew how to summon weapons, they weren't very adept at using them, evidenced by the look of surprise the demon using the spear showed when Pat easily grabbed it, then jerked it out of his hands and using it to swipe his feet out from underneath him, the weapon already turning while he was still falling, the sharp tip being rammed into his throat seconds later, his eyes going wide as he realized too late what had happened.

Not wasting another second on the dying demon, the black haired woman pulled the spear back out easily, using the thick shaft to block an axe coming at her head, a malicious smirk curling her lips when Buffy took care of the demon wielding said axe by ramming the sword she had taken from yet another one through his midsection, a pained cry escaping him as he went down.

"Fools!" the leader demon cried, his voice a mixture of anger and panic as his companions fell one by one, their rather undeveloped fighting skills no match for a Slayer and a former assassin with decades of experience, "we can't just lose against them!"

"That's just what you are doing", Buffy smiled, taking down yet another one; and moments later, as Pat finished off one more of them, he was the only one left, his gaze moving from the Slayer to the taller woman and back to the blonde, then focusing on Willow, a low snarl coming from him – before the sword in his hand changed into an already loaded crossbow and he fired at the redhead, his eyes widening in disbelief when the bolt got stuck in the spear's shaft instead, a low growl coming from Pat as she glared at him.

"Mistake", she then grumbled, the spear turning in her hands, "big mistake." And with the last word, she let it fly, a shocked and pained gurgle coming from the demon as it hit him in the stomach with enough force to drive him back a few steps before he fell over, another grunt escaping him as the impact drove the spear back out, his hands clutching at it helplessly, as if he could keep himself from dying by just holding on to the wood tight enough.

"Alright", Buffy stated, already dismissing him as dead and gone, "now that this has been taken care of… Willow, what did he give you?"

"Not sure", the redhead gave back, carefully unwrapping the leather, both the Slayer and Pat looking on curiously, not sure what to expect; they both ended up mildly disappointed though as the final layer of leather finally fell away and revealed a mere wooden stick, prompting all three women to frown.

"What's so special about that?" Buffy wanted to know, poking the stick with her index finger, her frown deepening when nothing happened; curiously, Pat moved closer to mimic her, and the moment she touched the stick, blue sparks flew up, a surprised "Ow!" coming from the demon as she jerked her hand back.

"What the Hell", she then complained, "it shocked me!"

"Why did it shock you and nothing happened when I touched it?" Buffy demanded to know, frowning; after looking at her partner in concern for a moment longer, just to make sure she hadn't taken any damage from the brief shock the stick had given her, Willow focused on her best friend, recalling what the demon had said before he had died.

"He told me to give it to you, the Chosen One", she explained, "so perhaps only you can touch it. Should I try touching it, too, just to make sure?"

"Go ahead", Buffy nodded, "but I wonder what I'm supposed to do with it if nothing happens when I touch it and it only shocks other people…"

"Time to find out", Willow let her know, then reached out, already anticipating the brief pain of the shock her partner had gotten, almost squeezing her eyes shut; then, the tip of her finger made contact with the wood, and before she knew what she was doing, she had grabbed the stick at the thickened base with a tight grip, both Buffy and Pat letting out a gasp when a strangely green mist swirled away from her fingers and down the length of the stick, the wood groaning audibly as it lengthened and thickened, until it was three times as long as it had been before, almost as tall as the witch herself.

"…whoa", Buffy finally brought out, breaking the stunned silence which had formed at the unexpected and rather spectacular sight, "what just happened? Why didn't it do that when I touched it?"

"No idea", Willow gave back, eying the staff suspiciously, "but… it feels odd to hold this. I can feel a strong magical energy within it…"

"Maybe that's why it reacted to you that way", Pat commented, looking at the staff as well, "because you're the one with the strongest magic here… Still doesn't explain why it shocked me."

"We better get this thing to Giles", Buffy decided, making the other two nod, "maybe he can tell us what this is. Should we wrap it up again?"

"If it shrinks back to its former size once I let go of it, yes", Willow nodded, looking at the staff in amazement; she could still feel the energy from it, pulsing through her, a pure and white kind of magic, untainted by any evil and darkness.

"Let's try then", Buffy suggested, and after a moment, the witch nodded, letting go of the staff; and while it still was falling to the ground, it already was shrinking again, until it had turned back to the size it had been before Willow had touched it, now barely as long as her forearm.

"Alright", she then mumbled, taking hold of the leather the stick had been wrapped up in and carefully covered the piece of wood with it again; and once it had been hidden beneath the layers of leather once more, the trio got moving, leaving the cemetery and heading for the Watcher's home, eager to see if he could provide some answers.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where did you get this?" Giles demanded to know the moment he had unwrapped the stick and had gotten one look at it, the amazement in his voice causing the three women to exchange surprised looks, "this is remarkable! If this is what I think it is…"

"A demon gave it to us", Buffy explained, "apparently, he wasn't supposed to, because he was chased by a bunch of other demons who looked just like him. They weren't very good at fighting."

"What did they look like?" Giles wanted to know, already moving away from the table where the stick had been placed, and to his bookshelf, "like this?" With those words, he opened the book he had chosen at a certain page and showed it to the three, none of them really surprised that it showed a rather well done picture of the demons they had faced not even an hour ago.

"Yeah", Buffy confirmed, "that's what they looked like. One of them was running away from a bunch of others and gave this stick-thingy to Willow, but they killed him before he could give any proper explanations."

"He told me to give it to the Chosen One", Willow added, "but when Buffy touched it, nothing happened, only when I did… Watch."

She smiled briefly at him, curious about his reaction, then reached out and grabbed the thickened end of the stick; and again, it started growing the moment she had touched it, the green mist swirling down the wood again until it finished lengthening, the Watcher staring with wide eyes.

"Remarkable", he finally said, his voice almost down to a whisper, looking as if he wanted to touch the staff, but not daring to, "do you have the slightest idea what this demon gave you?"

"No", Buffy gave back, raising an eyebrow, "that's why we came here and showed you this thing. So what is it and what does it to? Except for growing whenever Willow touches it, which brings some very unfortunate jokes to my mind."

"Don't even think of saying them out loud", Pat warned, making the Slayer chuckle; Willow gave her a strict look, as well, then put the staff back down again, Giles watching with fascination how it shortened again the moment she had stopped touching it.

"You have no idea what this is?" he then asked, looking up at the three women, frowning when they all shook their heads, a hint of sternness in his voice when he went on. "Well, Willow, at least you should have an idea. Or you, Pat, seeing your very nature."

"Just spit it out", the demon sighed in reply; in response, Giles made a dramatic pause, then finally did so, his face falling at the lack of response he got for his words. "It's the Staff of Righteousness."

"Okay, I could hear the capital letters", Buffy finally broke silence which had followed this slightly melodramatic statement, "but… What does it mean?"

"It's an ancient artefact", the Watcher explained, slightly exasperated at their lack of knowledge, "said to be very powerful. But it may only be used be someone with a… well, a good heart, I suppose, for fighting the good fight."

"Hey!" Buffy protested at once, offended, "I have a good heart too! Why didn't it grow when I touched it?!"

"Well, whatever the reason for that is, it at least explains why it decided to shock me", Pat dryly threw in before anyone could answer the Slayer, "apparently, it doesn't like demons, even if said demons have been fighting the good fight for years."

"That's a bit racist", Willow mused out loud, earning strange looks from the others in the room; shrugging it off, she looked at the stick again, sounding curious when she spoke on. "And the demon who gave it to me? What about him and his buddies out to kill him?"

"They are called the Guardians", Giles explained in reply, gesturing at the book he had put on the table, "trained from birth to guard valuable artefacts, such as the Staff and other, equally powerful items. The fact that one of them escaped with the Staff and that the others came after him though is quite worrisome."

"Why?" Buffy, Pat and Willow asked in perfect unison, then exchanged surprised looks while Giles briefly raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his lips – before he cleared his throat and grew serious again, the same emotion in his voice when he replied.

"As I said, they are Guardians", he explained, "they are merely supposed to guard the artefacts, never use them. Make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands. If one of them broke away from the group to deliver such an artefact of pure good to us as the Staff of Righteousness is, they must have been planning to do something with it. Perhaps corrupt it, or use it for their own agenda."

"Like what?" Pat frowned, reaching for her cigarettes only to remember that Giles didn't permit smoking in his house and stopping mid-movement, briefly looking dismayed, "and don't tell me they want to cause another apocalypse."

"Could be that this is just what they want", Giles sighed, shrugging helplessly when the demon glared at him in reply, "or they had some other plans. Apparently though, one of them kept in mind what they were trained for and delivered the Staff to safe hands."

"So if it only reacts to me, should I keep it?" Willow wanted to know, looking at the staff curiously, "at least until we figured out what to do with it? Perhaps I can find out what exactly it is capable of doing and we can use it for our fights."

"Yes, I suggest that you keep it", the Watcher nodded, not really surprising any of the three, "even though Pat should keep her hands away from it."

"Yeah, I really needed you to tell me that, or I would have poked it relentlessly to see if it stopped shocking me after a while", the taller woman dryly replied, making Willow giggle while Giles coughed slightly; then, he gestured at the book again, making the rest of the small group nod as he spoke on. "I will look into this and see if I can find out more about what the Guardians might have wanted to do with the Staff. I'll let you know the second I find anything."

"Alright", the witch nodded, "and I'll tell you in case the Staff… does anything. Wait, it doesn't shoot projectiles or something, right? Cause I'd hate to accidentally thrash the apartment by touching it the wrong way… and that came out wrong."

"It kinda did", Pat smirked, prompting Giles to roll his eyes at their childish behaviour before he let out a regretful noise, making them all look at him again.

"I'm not sure about what the Staff is capable of", he let them know, making them all frown, "but I doubt it will just randomly shoot projectiles. In case it does possess that ability, I suggest you try to find out in some other place than your home."

"In the back room of the Magic Box", Pat suggested with a twinkle in her eye, making Willow laugh slightly; she smirked back at her, then asked if they were done, coming to her feet the moment Giles had nodded.

Doing the same, Willow picked up the staff, making sure to not touch it directly as she didn't want it to grow again for no reason and perhaps start shooting projectiles after all; she nodded after Giles told them to be careful, then left the house together with her partner, suddenly curious to find out what the staff could do and if they'd be able to use it for the good fight they were fighting.

* * *

"You know, Giles was right", Willow stated ten minutes later, as they walked down the street side by side, her free hand grasping her partner's tenderly, "I really should go somewhere and try to figure out what this staff can do. Who knows what it might be capable of?"

"Some remote location", the demon nodded, to the witch's happiness clearly supporting the idea, "in the forest, perhaps? It should be someplace where people aren't going too often, so no one will wander by and see you… throw fireballs with it. Or whatever it might do. I'll come with you, if you like?"

"I'd really like that", Willow smiled, the taller woman returning her smile at once – before her steps faltered, just for a second, long to let the witch notice, the smile vanishing from her face as her brow furrowed with concentration.

By now, Willow knew her partner well enough to ask her what was wrong, but merely waited for her to say something, glancing around as she tried to figure out what might be going on; and a few seconds later, Pat answered her unasked question, keeping her voice so low that only the redhead could hear her.

"A couple of people are surrounding us right now", she let her partner know, causing her to gasp in surprise, "just make sure to keep a firm grip on the staff, I'm pretty sure that's what they are after."

As if her words had summoned them, they started melting from the shadows all around the couple, ten of them, dressed in flowing long robes with only glowing red eyes visible beneath the large hoods covering their heads; snarling, Pat glared at them, clenching her fists and letting them flame up while Willow moved a bit closer to her, her mind racing as she tried to figure out which spell to use against them.

"Give us the Staff and you shall not be harmed", one of them now spoke, in a low and throaty voice, the rest just staring at them in silence, "we promise."

"No", Willow gave back at once, not surprised when they snarled, then all took a step closer – and that was when the staff trembled tangibly in her grasp, then seemed to move on its own, the leather covering it falling away and her fingers closing around the wood, angered growls coming from the hooded figures as it immediately lengthened.

"Hand it over", the spokesman of them tried to reason once more, "we have no interest in fighting you. We will kill you if you don't hand it over, but this can just as well end peacefully."

"The moment you threatened my girl, any chance for ending this peacefully went out the window", Pat snarled, taking a step forward as well; before she could do more than that though, two of the robed figure she hadn't been able to keep her eye on jumped her from behind, low grunts and growls coming from her as she tried to shake them off.

"Kill them", their spokesman commanded, standing back as they all swarmed closer; and that was when the staff came to life, a startled cry escaping Willow as her arm snapped up, the wood whacking one of the two figures struggling with her partner hard across the back seconds later.

Stunned, all Pat could do was stare, the way Willow's eyes had grown wide showing that she was just as surprised about this as the demon; before she could figure out what exactly was happening though, the staff already was moving again, whacking the second hooded figure on the head, then moving with enough force to spin her around, jerking her arm up to block a hit aimed at the back of her head, then retaliating by smacking the one who had attacked her straight in the face, hard enough to send him to the ground.

Getting over her shock about this unexpected behaviour coming from her girlfriend, Pat took the chance given by how surprised their attackers obviously were, as well, quickly moving away from the three Willow had knocked out and making a fourth one join them with a few quick punches; and while she dealt with the one closest to her, Willow was already moving again, ramming the other end of the staff into the stomach of one of them, whacking him hard across the shoulders when he doubled over in pain and sending him down as well.

"Nice", Pat complimented her, grabbing a sixth one from behind when he tried to charge at the witch and, with her muscles bulging visibly, using his own momentum to toss him into two others of their assailants; they all went down in a flurry of arms, legs and fluttering robes, and then Willow was next to them, the staff whacking down three times with painful precision, knocking them all out within less than two seconds.

"Seems like it's just you now", Pat smirked, turning to look at the one who had given the commands in the first place; he let out a low growl in reply, his eyes flashing up even brighter for a moment – before he vanished into nothingness, the air rushing back into the spot he had left with an audible whooshing sound.

"Aw, man!" the demon complained, sounding so annoyed that it made Willow giggle slightly, "what the Hell! I wanted to question him!"

"At least we know now what the Staff can do", Willow gave back, eying it in amazement, "did you see that? It fought!"

"Looked more like you were fighting", Pat pointed out, already going down on one knee to check the robes of the fallen figure closest to her for pockets and any clues said pockets might contain, "and with quite the skill, I have to say."

"That should clue you in about the fact that it wasn't me", Willow told her, watching how she frowned at the knocked out guy she had been searching, then moved on to the next, "it was the Staff. It kinda… used me to fight, made me move, but it didn't feel like a bad thing, if you know that I mean…"

"No", the taller woman smirked, chuckling at how her partner's face fell, only to frown moments later as she moved on to guy number three and, after a few moment of patting his robe, threw her hands up in exasperation.

"Jesus H. Christ", she then blasphemed, "do none of them have pockets?! And to make it even worse, they're going commando beneath these robes."

"Okay, I was just about to offer my help with searching them, but now that you said that, I won't", Willow smirked, earning a sour look in reply; annoyed, the black haired woman came to her feet again and kicked the guy nearest to her, giving him a dirty glance as well when he groaned in reply.

"We better get moving", the redhead suggested at hearing the noise coming from the fallen man, "before they wake up and decide they want to try again. Even though it would be fun to use the Staff on them again."

"I imagine", Pat smirked, dusting off her pants; Willow smiled back at her, then let go of the staff so it could shrink back to a more easily transportable size, wrapping it up in the leather again before they got moving again, leaving the knocked out group of men behind as they headed back to their home.


	3. Chapter 3

"Yeah, it fought", Willow repeated half an hour later, on the phone with Giles, "it was awesome. It's kinda hard to describe, but it performed all these awesome moves, really quickly, but without making me feel as if it is doing this against my will. It was as if it was just… helping me to utilize fighting skills I didn't even know I possessed."

"Interesting", Giles gave back, frowning slightly, "I've never read of this before, and I did quite a bit of reading on the Staff after it was given to you. You really should try to find out what else it can do."

"I will", Willow promised, "and I'll let you know as soon as we find out something new."

"Take care until then", Giles instructed, now sounding slightly concerned, "who knows what other forces might be after the Staff, and seeing how fast this group of hooded men struck…"

"We'll be careful", Willow reassured him, "no worries, you know Pat will protect me and if the Staff does this every time I'm in danger…"

"Then anyone after it might be in for a surprise", Giles said, and she could practically hear the smile on his face; she giggled slightly and nodded, then said her goodbye, her partner's voice reaching her ears the moment she had ended the call and had put down the phone.

"So what did he say?" the demon wanted to know, strolling in from the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand, "did he know the Staff can do that?"

"No", Willow let her know, moving over to her and smiling when she was pulled into a one-armed embrace, the couple sharing a short, but tender kiss before the redhead spoke on.

"He had no idea", she let her partner know, "and he was quite surprised. He told me again we should try to find out what else it can do, and that we should be careful, because a lot of people might be after it."

"Let them come", Pat shrugged, interrupting herself with a sip of her coffee before she continued, "we can handle whatever they might throw at us. I mean, we kicked the Devil's butt and stopped like ten apocalypses by now."

"That number's a little high", Willow smiled, "but you're right, we can handle anyone they might send after us. We are quite the battle couple."

Secretly, she was glad to hear her partner talk with such great self-confidence again; after the whole mess with the power-stealing with Lana they had dealt with just a few weeks ago, the demon had been quite affected for a while, jumping at unexpected noises and touches, and reluctant to go anywhere where big crowds might be expected, but getting better about this, as well.

At first, Willow had been worried that what she had experienced in that other dimension, locked up in the tower the power stealer had been living in, might have an unexpected negative effect on her fighting skill; it quickly had become clear though that this wasn't the case, the taller woman still battling their foes with the speed and strength she always had displayed, sometimes even with a bit more force than necessary, something which worried the witch every now and then, but so far, there hadn't really been a good moment to bring it up, to her dismay.

Making a mental note to herself that she still had to talk to her partner about this, Willow stood in the tips of her toes for another kiss, gesturing at the couch afterwards and making the taller woman smile with what she said next.

"So, after all this excitement", she started, looking up at her partner, "how about we just cuddle a bit? Maybe watch a nice movie?"

"Sounds like a plan", the demon agreed at once, not really surprising her, "any particular movie you want to see?"

"Nothing bloody", Willow told her at once, "something funny would be nice."

"Fine with me", Pat shrugged, already moving to the shelf holding their movie collection; doing the same, Willow studied the row of DVDs for a few moments, then pointed one out, the taller woman nodding her reply when she asked if this one was alright.

"I wonder if anyone else will come after us", the redhead mused after they had popped the movie in and had made themselves comfortable on the couch, the witch having snuggled up to her partner and enjoying the feeling of her arms around her, one of the demon's hands moving up to play with a few strands of her hair, "and if we'll find out what they want to do with the Staff."

"Probably something nasty", Pat grumbled in reply, momentarily regretting that she had put her coffee cup on the table since now, she couldn't reach it without leaning forward and putting Willow in danger of being tossed off the couch by her; as if she had read her mind, the witch leaned forward instead and grabbed the cup, handing it to her with a smirk and earning a grateful look in reply.

"Finding that out was the reason why I wanted to question that one guy", the demon went on after taking a sip of the coffee, "but unfortunately, he pulled off his little vanishing act before we could get a hold of him."

"In case they try again, I'll use a binding spell on him", Willow decided in reply, "then we can keep him from vanishing into thin air again and ask him what exactly they are planning to do. And if he doesn't want to talk, I can put a truth spell on him."

"I like that plan", Pat smirked, making the witch smile back at her; the couple exchanged another tender kiss, then both focused on the movie, all thoughts of the Staff and what mayhem it still might cause in their lives at least for the moment forgotten.

* * *

Even though by now, Willow knew that her partner still suffered from nightmares about what had been done to her by Lana, it still startled her to no end whenever the demon's screams tore her out of her peaceful slumber; as always, it took her a few moments to realize that they were not under attack and that nothing bad was happening except for the images of the taller woman's nightmares, her heart racing in her chest as she hurriedly sat up in bed, switched on the lamp on the nightstand and then did the only thing she knew would help – she pulled her partner into an embrace and held her, whispering soothingly into her ear and caressing her back and hair, tightening her embrace around Pat when the demon woke up moments later and looked at her in confusion and fear.

"It's okay", she mumbled, telling her what she needed to hear to get out of the nightmare's clutches and realize that she was safe, "it was a dream, it's not real, she's gone and you're okay…"

For a few more minutes, Pat remained silent, just letting the witch hold her and rub her back soothingly; then, she finally spoke up, in a surprisingly stable voice, considering that she'd had dreams bad enough to make her scream, her words prompting Willow to tighten her hug around her yet again. "Sorry for waking you up… again."

"Don't worry about that", Willow gave her standard response, "are you feeling alright? Do you want me to get you something?"

"No", the demon mumbled in reply, snuggling up closer to her and prompting her to caress her hair again, her tender touch clearly helping to calm her down further, "just… keep doing what you're doing. I'll be fine…"

Nodding, Willow raised her head slightly so she could tenderly kiss her on the cheek; then, she just kept holding her, rubbing her back soothingly with one hand while the other rested on her upper arm, the hardness of her bicep showing how tense the demon still was.

"Try to relax", the witch mumbled, briefly closing her eyes when she felt her partner tremble in her arms in reply, "you're okay, it was just a nightmare…"

"I wish they'd just stop", Pat brought in a trembling voice in reply, startling Willow slightly with this unexpected display of such strong emotion, "I'm sick of dreaming about that bitch… about what she did to me…"

"They've been getting less and less though, no?" Willow wanted to know, moving her hand from her back to caress her hair tenderly yet again, "I'm sure they'll stop completely soon, Sweetie… And it's normal to dream of such… things, it was quite the painful and terrifying experience for you…"

"Yeah", was all the demon replied to that; she had told her loved one a few bits and pieces about what exactly Lana had done to her in that tower and how it had felt, but never had gone into great detail, and from her monosyllabic response, it was obvious that she wouldn't do so now, either.

"…I still dream of Warren, you know", Willow thus said after a moment, more to break the silence which had been forming, since it had been one of the few uncomfortable ones which hardly ever happened between her lover and her, "of what he did. And of what I did to him."

"You do?" the demon wanted to know, looking at her in surprise, the witch's eyes by now having adjusted enough to the dark so she could read that expression on her lover's face; nodding, she moved one hand to play with a strand of the taller woman's long hair, keeping her voice low when she replied.

"Yes", she confirmed once more, "not often, and by now, it's not bad enough anymore to make me wake up screaming, but I do. Of Tara, how she looked at me the moment the bullet hit her, and of how he looked after I… after I flayed him. Of the sound and the smell…"

She took in a deep breath, for a moment almost able to smell the said odour; then, the unpleasant memories had been pushed to the back of her mind successfully, and she smiled weakly at her partner, knowing that Pat could see her just as well, if not even better, in the dark room as she could see her.

"And that has been years ago", she then went on, still caressing the demon's hair tenderly, "so, as you see, it's normal to dream about such experiences. Of course it's not pleasant, and I hope too that the dreams might stop some day, but until then, all I can do is deal with them."

"Why did you never tell me?" Pat wanted to know, frowning slightly now, "even if those nightmares don't cause you to wake up screaming anymore, you could have told me…"

"They were just dreams", Willow shrugged in reply, "not prophetic like the ones I had before he came back, just nightmares. It just didn't seem important."

Still frowning, the demon looked as if she wanted to protest; before she could do so though, a low thump reached her ears, and from the way Willow stiffened next to her, it became immediately clear that she had heard it as well and that she hadn't imagined it.

"Someone's in here", she whispered what Pat had been thinking, momentarily amazed by how well the demon's nightmare and awakening had been timed – if she hadn't had one of her bad dreams that night, they never would have woken up, and whoever had entered their home now would have gotten away without the two of them ever having the slightest idea he'd been there.

"Stay here", the demon muttered, already moving out of her embrace, "I'll take care of this."

Even though she wanted to protest, wanted to tell her that she'd come with her and make sure she wouldn't get hurt, Willow merely nodded; by now, she knew Pat well enough to be well aware of the black haired woman's need to protect her and to display that she was strong enough to do just that, and after how weak and helpless Lana had made her, had made her feel, it was just natural that she would take the first chance given to prove that she still could handle anything Sunnydale might throw at them.

Thus, she stayed where she was, watching how the taller woman snuck to the door, moving with the soundless grace decades of assassinating people had granted her; it was unavoidable to open the door, and thus risk being discovered as awake and aware of what was going on, but still, she managed to do that just as quietly as she had been moving, her good eye narrowing seconds later.

"Hey", she then called out, to whoever had entered their home uninvited, "I don't think that's yours to take. Drop it, buddy."

"Why are you awake?" the burglar asked in reply, of all things to say, still clutching the wrapped up Staff in one hand; in response, Pat just let out a snarl, then started moving, all tries to be quiet forgotten now that they were facing each other, her fists already flaming up while she still was moving, the sight prompting Willow to wince as she thought of scorch marks on the carpet and the furniture.

"Careful, love", she thus called out, finally getting out of bed as well and moving to the doorway so she could watch her lover fight, "don't set anything on fire. Except for him."

"Not him, either!" the man called out as he ducked a fist aimed at his face, only to end up with a knee in his gut; with a low "Ooff", he got thrown backwards, dropping the Staff in the process and immediately using the fact that now, both his hands were free to raise them and to call out "I give up, I give up!", prompting the demon to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You give up so fast?" she then wanted to know, sounding almost annoyed, to Willow's imminent amusement, "what kind of a demon are you?"

"What!" the man squeaked, scrambling backwards and out of her reach, somehow managing to do so without lowering his hands, "demon? I'm no demon, I'm just a man! … and everyone knows demons aren't real anyway."

"Demons aren't real?" Willow echoed, moving closer to her partner and looking at the man in disbelief, "you come to _our _home and tell us demons aren't real? How do you think she makes that fire happen?"

With those words, she gestured at the flaming fists of her partner, making her realize that the fire was still there and prompting her to let it flicker away into nothingness; shrugging, the man dared to sit up a bit, looking relieved when he wasn't immediately attacked again.

"Some sort of parlour trick?" he then guessed, clearly not realizing what was going on, and displaying what the gang by now referred to as "Sunnydale Syndrome" in spades, "I was told that one of you is a witch when I was sent here. I figured it's her."

"I'm the witch", Willow let him know, "she's the demon. And yes, they are real, and yes, she can make that fire come back whenever she wants, and _yes, _it is real and it can hurt you. A lot."

"Um", the man replied, looking at the taller woman slightly nervous now – before he let out a strangely melodramatic sigh and, with his eyes rolling back into his head, fainted, hitting the carpet with a low _thump _moments later.


	4. Chapter 4

"…okay", Pat was the first one to comment, raising an eyebrow, "that was quite the unexpected reaction."

"Why would anyone send somebody who has no idea who we are and what we can do?" Willow wanted to know, frowning as she poked the unconscious guy with her toe, making sure he really was out and not just faking it, "that's just senseless."

"Well", the demon gave back, eying the man with slight amusement, "if demons can't touch this thing without risking getting shocked, and vampires can't enter without an invitation, hiring a human is the only way to get that Staff by breaking into our home."

"Good point", the redhead had to admit, "but still, why not tell him?"

"Depends", Pat shrugged, surprising her moments later by moving to where she had hung her pants before going to sleep and pulling the belt out of the loops, then using it to bind the guy's hands behind his back, "if he's a hired monkey, they might have figured he wouldn't believe them anyway, or that he might not take the job, thinking they're a bunch of nutcases."

"Again I have to say, good point", Willow nodded, smiling at her partner, "but why would you call him a monkey? That's not nice."

"That's just a term", the taller woman shrugged, dropping him on the couch rather carelessly after she had finished tying him up, "it's what certain… circles call burglars for hire."

"Oh", the witch gave back, momentarily feeling a bit silly, "I see… Do they also have a name for people like you were before we met?"

"Several", Pat let her know, "metal man for those who wanted to sound cool, hitman in the traditional sense, or just assassin. A few also called us permanent problem solvers."

"Charming", Willow mumbled, then the tied up burglar on the couch let out a groan, his eyelids fluttering before they slowly opened – only for his eyes to widen moments later as he realized that he had been tied up, panic filling his gaze as he started to struggle weakly.

"Hold still", Pat snapped, her voice so cold and full of authority that it momentarily startled Willow, the surprised look she gave her partner unnoticed by their captive; for a few seconds, she wondered if maybe, this had been how the demon had talked to her victims, then shrugged it off as she looked at the burglar again as well, feeling a bit of pity for him when she saw the terror in his eyes.

"Please", he said before the taller woman could ask him anything, "I never meant to hurt you or something! I'm just a burglar, I just got hired to get this stick or whatever it is from you, it was just supposed to be a simple in and out job! Please don't hurt me!"

"Who hired you?" Pat demanded to know in reply, making him squirm and struggle on the couch by bending closer to him, until their noses were almost touching, her good eye flaring up red and making him cry out again, his eyes widening as he, apparently for the first time, got a good look at her ruined eye and had time to take in the scar tissue covering the empty socket, "spit it out!"

"I don't know!" he nearly sobbed in reply, looking as if he might start crying any second now, "just… some guy wearing a robe! He told me he'd pay me really well, if I'd just get that stick from you guys, that's all, I swear!"

"I think he's telling the truth", Willow decided to perform the role of good cop, giving him a hopefully calming smile – before he might remember that they were in an apartment building and might get the idea to scream for help, the witch figuring that, even though if he had broken into their home, the police might not look kindly at the two of them tying him up and keeping him there against his will.

"I am, I am", he nodded empathically, "I swear! And I didn't intend to take anything else! I just wanted to get that stick and get out again! Really!"

"I think we should let him go", Willow suggested, the grateful look he gave her almost pathetic, "he surely learned his lesson now. Didn't you?"

"Yes, yes", he nodded at once, so enthusiastically that it surprised the witch he wasn't getting whiplash; smirking rather maliciously, Pat briefly glanced at her partner, then looked at him again, her voice still cold when she replied, her words making the man cower in fear again.

"Not yet. There are a few more things I want to know", she stated, and for a moment, the guy looked as if he might pee his pants; then, she went on, and the immense relief which showed on his features in response nearly caused her to drop the façade of the cold and uncaring demon as she had to bite back laughter while she asked him how he had been instructed to deliver the stick.

"I can tell you that!" he cried out, shifting on his seat again, by now clearly getting uncomfortable from having his hands tied behind his back, "I was supposed to deliver the staff an hour from now, to a bar! I think it was called Wilhelm's…"

"Willy's", Pat corrected, raising an eyebrow, "and you're lucky you won't have to go there. It's a local demon and vampire hangout, you wouldn't have gotten out alive again."

"What!" the burglar squealed in reply, looking as if he might want to faint again, "demon and vampire hideout?! You can't be serious!"

"Oh, we are", Willow reassured him, "so be glad we caught you. Pat, a word please?"

Nodding, the demon followed her partner into the kitchen as she led the way, curious what this was about now; in the living room, the burglar was breathing slowly and deeply, obviously trying hard to not faint yet again.

"We should let him go", the witch told her lover as soon as the door had been closed behind them, keeping her voice low to make sure the man wouldn't hear them, "but perhaps we should make sure he doesn't remember any of this."

"A forgetting spell", the taller woman nodded at once, "good idea. Do you need anything for that?"

"Lethe's Bramble", Willow replied at once, "but I got that here. How much should we wipe from his mind?"

"The last four or five hours", Pat decided in reply, "to make sure he also forgot getting that job."

Nodding her agreement, Willow figured that this should be more than enough; for a moment, she worried if she'd be able to time the memory wipe like that, then told herself that surely, a witch with power as great as hers could do such a simple spell as exactly as she wanted to, pushing those doubts aside as she gestured at the door leading back to the living room, the demon nodding in response to her unanswered question.

"What are you doing?" the man asked as she moved to the cupboard where she kept all her magical supplies, looking and sounding slightly nervous as he shifted on the couch; smirking at him, the demon leaned against the wall and casually crossed her arms over her chest, making his gaze flicker to her when she spoke up.

"No worries", she let him know, her words obviously not reassuring him much though, "we won't harm you. We'll just make sure you won't come here again."

"I won't, I promise", the guy gave back at once, "please, you don't have to do anything. Really."

"It won't harm you", Willow replied, having found the Lethe's Bramble she needed for the spell and another herb she'd use to put the man to sleep, "I promise."

She gave him a smile, then her fingers closed over the herb and crushed it as she breathed "Forget", focusing hard on the time frame she had agreed on with Pat, not wanting to make him forget too much; and then, she added the spell to put him to sleep, his body slumping over on the couch surprisingly quick as he started snoring, the spell taking effect immediately.

"Good job", Pat complimented her, moving away from the wall and to their slumbering captive, "now let's drop him off somewhere and then go meet the nice man who hired him."

"We should take the Staff, too", Willow suggested, looking at said object, "just in case someone else comes by to steal it while we're gone."

Nodding her agreement, the demon moved to the couch and bent down to pick the slumbering man up; before she could do so, Willow spoke up again, reminding her of the fact that they both still were in their pyjamas and that they should probably change before heading out for Willy's, her words making the taller woman roll her good eye at her own stupidity.

"Good point", she then had to admit, making her partner giggle while she nodded; together, they made their way to the bedroom, quickly changing into clothes more suitable for going out there before they left the apartment, Pat carrying the snoring man over one shoulder while Willow was holding the Staff yet again, both of them confident that, at Willy's, they'd get the answers they needed.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright", Pat muttered half an hour later, standing in front of Willy's with Willow by her side, having one last smoke before they'd enter, "things will probably get ugly in there, neither one of us has many fans in the supernatural population. You got the Staff ready?"

"Yes", Willow confirmed, already having unwrapped enough of the leather to make gripping said Staff possible within the blink of an eye, "let's hope it will work again in case they attack us. Shouldn't we wait for Buffy? She said she'd be here as fast as possible."

"Not enough time, if that guy is waiting for the burglar he sent", Pat pointed out, "and about the Staff, if not, you can blast them all away with your magic, just make sure you don't hit me."

"I'll give my best", Willow reassured her, having to admit that she was right about waiting for Buffy, "and you, in case you have to flame up or demon out, try not to set the whole place on fire."

"I can't guarantee that", the taller woman smirked, then all humour vanished from her face as she put on what Willow secretly referred to as her "assassin face"; she took another look at her partner, who just nodded at the unasked question, and then strode forward, pushing the door open with enough force to make it hit the wall and to make everyone notice them, her heavy boots thumping on the wooden floor as she approached the bar, with the witch right behind her, the redhead giving her best to look just as fierce and menacing as her partner.

"Oh no", Willy groaned as he immediately recognized both of them, even though it had been quite some time since they had been in his bar; and all around, they could feel the other patrons, an assorted mix of demons and vampires, tense up as they figured out who those two were, as well.

"What do you want here?!" Willy cried out as they reached the bar, pointedly ignoring the other guests, "every time you come here, I get beaten up and my place gets thrashed! Get out!"

"Shut up", Pat coldly gave back, and there was enough menace in her voice to make him do just that, even prompting him to move back as far as he could, his back bumping against the shelf behind him after just two steps.

"We're not interested in you, or your place", the demon went on, finally acknowledging the rest of the patrons as she turned to look at them, her gaze moving over them, clearly unfazed by the hostility she could see in their eyes.

"What we are interested in", she continued after a well calculated, short pause, "is the guy who hired a random burglar to break into our home. Any volunteers?"

"You have a lot of guts, coming here", a random vampire snarled in response, glaring at the couple as if he wanted to jump them and drain them dry, "after all you did to the likes of us."

"I don't recall asking you for your opinion", Pat snarled in response, giving him a glare which far outmatched his own, "but if you're eager on having your ass kicked, be my guest."

It didn't surprise her that he remained where he was, only shifting on his chair slightly and looking at the others in the bar; when no one made a move to attack them though, he just growled under his breath, then focused on his drink again, pretending not to see the smirk on the black haired woman's face.

"I think you are looking for me", a voice from the far back of the bar broke the silence which briefly had formed, prompting both Willow and Pat to look at the owner of said voice; the moment he felt their gazes on him, he rose from his seat with a dramatic flourish, causing his black robe to billow around him, the bright red of his eyes being the only thing visible of his face as he focused on them.

"It is a pity that the man I hired couldn't fulfil his mission", he went on, making the demon snort, "did you kill him?"

"No", Willow was the one to answer this time, giving her best to ignore the tension she could feel building up in the air around them, knowing that the tiniest spark might turn the patrons into a raging mob out for their blood, "but we made sure he knows nothing of this any longer."

"Of course", the man gave back, a hint of mocking in his voice, "I forgot, you're the good guys. You don't kill any innocents. And you have no idea about the power of the artefact you're holding in your hands, witch."

"No matter how powerful it is", Willow gave back bravely, holding his glowing gaze, "we won't let it fall into your hands. I've seen what it can do."

"You've seen a tiny sliver of the Staff's strength", the man admonished, the arrogance in his voice clearly annoying Pat, "it is more powerful than you ever could imagine. And now we'll take it back."

And the second he had said the last word, Willy vanished behind the bar, getting himself out of the immediate danger zone while each and every other patron in the bar got up from their seat, with startling simultaneously; snarling, Pat brought up her fists at the sight, flames immediately bursting from her skin while Willow let the leather fall away and her fingers closed around the Staff, familiar strength surging through her as it lengthened in reaction to her touch.

"Bring it on", the taller woman still had time to snarl, and then the demons and vampires were surging forward and she moved to meet them, her fist catching the first vampire to reach her at the jaw and sending him back, stumbling against another one; they went down in a tumble of arms and legs and fists, growls and snarls coming from them as they tried to untangle themselves from each other.

Ignoring them from the second on they had gone down, Pat was already focusing on the next opponent, blocking his punch by catching his fist and then jerking him closer and headbutting him, sending him to the ground; and next to her, Willow was making good use of the Staff, by now well aware of how it helped her fight, just letting it take over and fight the way it wanted to, the hardened wood dealing out punishment left and right, whenever a demon or vampire was making the mistake of getting too close.

"The Staff!" the robed man roared, raising his voice over the din of the fight, "take the Staff!"

"Yes", Willow agreed amiably as one of the demons tried to do just that, only to end up receiving a series of hard hits to various parts of his anatomy and went down, "come and get some."

"Enjoying yourself?" Pat asked, amused, while she easily dodged another hit and retaliated with a low sweeping kick, sending the assailant to the ground; smirking at her, Willow nodded, then focused on their attackers again as one of them let out a tremendous roar while he heaved up a table and threw it at them – and the Staff shot up and somehow, despite lacking an edge sharp enough, sliced the table in two, the pieces falling to the ground left and right of the witch, not even getting close to touching her or her partner.

"That's new", the black haired woman commented, almost casually kicking the nearest bar stool and sending it sliding across the floor until it collided with the legs of yet another demon and made him fall, "didn't know it also works as a sword."

"Apparently it only does so when necessary", Willow gave back, as the Staff was taking down yet another vampire, the blows not leaving the cuts a blade would have left though, "interesting."

"You fools!" the robed man interrupted before the taller woman could reply to that, "there are so many of you and just two of them! Finish them!"

"How about you try to help?" one of the vampires protested, wiping blood from his mouth and grimacing in pain, "have you seen them fight?! They're impossible to take down!"

As if to confirm his words, Pat chose that moment to grab two advancing demons and smash their heads together, making them both fall down, dazed; she smirked at the robed man, and that was when the click came from behind her and cold steel touched her ear, Willy's voice surprisingly firm when he spoke up.

"Drop the Staff, witch", he ordered, his gaze flickering back and forth between the black haired woman he now held at gunpoint and said witch, "or I'll blow her head off. I don't think she'll heal that."

"Finally someone in here who's sensible", the robed man stated, the demons and vampires stepping back as he approached the couple, the taller woman standing stiff as the gun was still pressed against her head; next to her, Willow glared at Willy, but didn't dare to move, not wanting to imagine what would happen if he'd pull the trigger of the shotgun he was aiming at her partner.

"Give me the Staff", the robed man ordered, reaching out; and that was when, with a tremendous loud bang, the Staff shot a brightly glowing ball of energy at him, hitting him right in the chest and sending him back with a startled, pained cry, blue sparks running up and down his robe and causing his body to convulse as he hit the ground.

Behind her, Willow heard Willy gasp, but before he could do more than that, the Staff was already moving again, swinging sideways and upwards – and slicing through the barrel of his gun, the steel clattering to the ground harmlessly while Pat was already dropping down to the ground, just in case he'd pull the trigger and the weapon might still work anyway.

"My gun!" Willy cried out, of all things, "you ruined my gun!"

Not even dignifying that with an answer, the redhead whacked him hard on the head with the Staff, and he went down without another word; and that was when the door opened and Buffy entered, stopping dead in her tracks as she saw the carnage which had been inflicted on the bar and its patrons, shaking her head after just staring in silence for a few moments.

"Aw", she then let out, moving over to where Willow was still standing and Pat was coming to her feet again, the demons and vampires making sure to stay out of her way as they eyed her warily, "I missed all the fun, didn't I?"

"I suppose to", Pat nodded, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of them up, "unless you guys aren't done yet?"

She smiled cheerfully at the still standing vampires and demons, and their response was immediate – they all turned and rushed for the door, nearly falling over each other in their despair to get out and away from the three of them.

"You did miss all the fun", Pat confirmed at the sight, prompting Buffy to sigh dramatically – before she gestured at the knocked out robed man and smirked again, asking the couple if this was who she thought it was.

"Let's tie him up", she suggested, a bit too enthusiastic and thus making the couple look at her oddly, "so we can question him when he wakes up."

"I'll find some rope", the demon offered in reply, then wandered off to do just that; and while she looked for something suitable to tie the man up, Willow ran her finger over the Staff, remembering how easily it had cut through the table and the gun barrel, like a warm knife going through butter, asking herself what exactly the gang had gotten their hands on and how powerful this artefact really was.


	6. Chapter 6

Ten minutes later, the robed man had been tied to a chair, and his robe had been pushed back from his head, revealing his face; to the surprise of all three women, he looked remarkably normal, no sign of anything demonic in his rather average face, a face none of them would have looked at twice, had they happened to walk past him on the street.

"He looks so normal", Willow finally said out loud what they all were thinking, still holding on to the Staff and leaning on it rather casually, studying the man's slightly messy brown hair and his face, guessing him to be in his mid-thirties, "but I didn't imagine that red glow from his eyes, right?"

"No, you didn't", Pat confirmed, eying the guy as well, "I saw it, too. He's definitely not as normal as he looks, and I think he's waking up."

As if in response to her words, the man groaned, then opened his eyes, normal brown eyes now, and blinked a few times – before he realized that he was tied to a chair and he snarled, the red glow filling his gaze again as he glared at the small group, speaking through grit teeth.

"Insolence!", he snarled, pulling at the bonds, "how dare you! Untie me this instant!"

"We'll do no such thing", Buffy gave back, "first, you tell us what we want to know. Why do you want the Staff?"

In response, the man stared hatefully at her for a few moments – before his jaws started working, Pat's good eye going wide seconds later as blood started to dribble from his lips.

"Stop!" she snarled, stepping forward and grabbing at his jaw, in an attempt to interrupt what he was doing; it took Willow a moment longer to realize what was going on, her face paling rapidly the second she figured it out, the fact that by now, the bleeding had gotten much stronger and that the man was letting out strangely wet sounding laughter not helping with keeping her nausea at bay.

"Dammit", Pat grumbled in front of the chair, still trying to stop him; and moments later, he spat a shockingly large amount of blood at her, along with his tongue, and she jerked back, avoiding getting hit by the repulsive bodypart at the last second.

"Jesus Christ", Buffy whispered behind her, shocked; struggling to keep her dinner inside, all Willow could do was stare, while Pat let out yet another snarl – before she stepped forward, grasped his head and, without hesitation, broke his neck, his laughter cut off abruptly as he slumped back in the chair.

"Alright", she then mumbled, wiping her hands on her jacket as she turned to face her partner, "he must be working for someone really powerful if the thought of being forced to talk makes him bite off his own tongue."

"Apparently", Willow gave back, trying to push the image of her partner so easily killing that man out of her mind, knowing deep inside that it had been a mere mercy kill and had prevented him from bleeding to death from his self-inflicted injury or from choking on his own blood, "how could he do this? The pain alone would make any sane being stop…"

"Who knows what he was threatened with in case he'd talk", Pat sighed in response, turning to look at her lover, "and, well, there's nothing left for us to do here. Let's leave the cleanup to Willy and get out."

"Yeah", Buffy agreed, "but we at least should take our tongue-biter here along. I don't put it past Willy to call the police and blame us for him, just to make trouble."

"Good point", the demon had to admit, already bending down to undo the knots, then slinging the dead body over her shoulder; complaining about how she had to carry around dead or knocked out guys all evening, she made her way to the door, with Willow and Buffy in tow, the redhead still holding on the staff, taking strange comfort from the way her fingers were curled around the wood.

"Where should we put him?" the demon asked as she stepped outside, "just drop him in some cemetery?"

Nodding, Buffy just opened her mouth to suggest the cemetery close to the High School when the sound of screeching tires interrupted her; automatically, she looked over, taking a step back at the sight of the black van speeding towards them, the door in the vehicle's side sliding open and two men leaning out, wearing robes identical to the one the dead man slung over Pat's shoulder, their eyes narrowing in anger when they spotted him.

With startling unison, they brought up crossbows, somehow managing to keep them steady despite the rather wild driving style of the one behind the van's steering wheel; it took Pat just a second to realize whom they were aiming at, and the blink of an eye later, she had dropped the dead man and was moving, ending up in front of her partner just as the men fired their crossbows, a low grunt coming from her when both bolts hit.

"No!" Willow cried out as her partner went down, the bolts protruding from her shoulder blade and lower back, blood dripping from the wounds; she started moving closer to her, and that was when the van reached them and the men made a grab for her, a cry coming from both Buffy and her when their hands closed around her arms and she was yanked into the van.

"Willow!" Buffy screamed as the van sped off into the night, taking the witch and the Staff with it; for a moment, she almost ran after it, even though she knew it would have been useless, knew that not even her Slayer strength was a match for a car driving at such high speed – and then the demon groaned at her feet, and she remembered that her friend had been hit, dropping down on her knees next to her as she tried to figure out how bad it was, asking herself how all had gone wrong so shockingly fast.

* * *

Just as it had in the bar, the Staff took over again the moment she had been dragged into the van; and without hesitation, Willow let it, putting all her anger about what they had done to her lover into the whacks, taking them both down within seconds, before they even had a chance to reload their crossbows.

"What the Hell is going on back there!" the driver shouted, and the man next to him on the passenger seat turned to find out just that; he looked startled for a moment to see his companions knocked out cold and Willow standing in the van, the Staff in a firm hold, then his eyes narrowed as he brought up yet another crossbow.

Automatically taking a step back at the sight, Willow had a moment to wonder if the Staff would protect her against crossbow bolts as well, if it _could _protect her; and then the man was firing, and the Staff snapped upwards, batting the bolt aside with ease and causing it to hit the wall instead of her, a smirk forming on her face as she once more marvelled at how powerful and useful this artefact was.

"Dammit!" the man cursed, lowering the crossbow; the driver took a moment to look at him, whispering something under his breath, making him nod – before he stepped down hard on the brake, the abrupt halt causing Willow to lose her balance and to stumble, her arms flailing as she tried to remain on her feet without letting go of the Staff.

Just when she thought that she'd manage, a hand grasped her ankle and gave her a powerful yank, ruining the tiny chance she'd had to stay on her feet; with a yelp, she fell, and seconds after she had hit the floor, one of the men she'd fought half a minute ago was on top of her, pressing a knife to her throat, blood dripping freely from his nose as he glared down on her.

"Let go of the Staff", he pressed out, barely suppressed rage and hatred in his voice, "or I'll open you up from ear to ear, I swear!"

Swallowing heavily, feeling the cold steel against her skin, Willow did as he had told her to, and the Staff immediately shrank, until it was merely a stick again; still keeping the knife to her throat, the man reached for it and picked it up, the witch noting that he made sure to not touch it directly, but to keep the fabric of his robe between his fingers and the wood.

"Good job", his companion grunted, coming around again as well and rubbing his head, "and I owe the bitch one for nearly knocking out my teeth."

"Be my guest", the other one smirked, and the redhead's eyes widened – before the man lashed out and backhanded her, hard enough to throw her head aside and to split her lip, forcing her to grit her teeth so she wouldn't cry out in pain, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

"What do we do with her now?" the driver called out, the van having picked up speed again and taking them God knew where, "taking her along was never part of the plan!"

"I know that, numbnuts", the man who still was straddling her replied, never taking his eyes off of her, "if that stupid demon hadn't taken the bolts for her, we wouldn't have this problem. The boss will figure something out."

"We should just kill her and toss her out", the driver muttered, causing her to swallow heavily again, relief briefly filling her when immediately, the guy who had hit her shook his head.

"No, idiot", he then admonished, "don't you know who she is? And who her friends are? If our bolts didn't kill the demon, and I doubt they did, you know what they say about her, she'll come after us for sure, with the Slayer at her side. With the witch alive, we at least have a chance to negotiate."

His words reminded Willow of the fact that, yet again, her partner had risked her life to keep her from harm, and her heart clenched up as she asked herself how badly Pat had been hurt; and then, the knife was gone from her throat, but before she could do anything in reaction, the weapon's hilt slammed against the side of her head, stars exploding in front of her eyes and a pained cry escaping her after all before the world went dark around her.


	7. Chapter 7

"Ow, fuck", Pat cursed at the same time, as Buffy was grasping one of the bolts and pulling, gritting her teeth against the pain, and letting out a yelp anyway once the bolt came loose and slid out of her flesh, the flow of blood from the wound increasing, "hurry up Buffy, before I pass out from pain or blood loss. Or both."

"Giving my best here", Buffy gave back, grabbing the bolt which had hit her low in the back, briefly worried about possible injuries to her kidney or other unpleasant effects of the bolt she couldn't see; then, she pushed those thoughts aside, reminding herself of the healing abilities the taller woman had in her demon form as she grasped the bolt, trying to ignore how the blood on it was making it slick to the touch as she took a firm hold of it.

"Okay, there we go", she mumbled, placing her other hand on the taller woman's shoulder for both bearing and comfort, "grit your teeth, this is gonna hurt…"

"Just do it", the demon grunted, and then Buffy started pulling and she yelped in pain before she grit her teeth and clenched her fists, sweat rolling down her cheeks; it seemed to take forever until the bolt finally came out, and for a moment, she was sure that she'd throw up and then faint – before sharp pain originated from a new place, namely her ear, as Buffy was grabbing and pulling it, making her yelp again, with both surprise and pain this time.

"Buffy, what the fuck!", she then complained, glaring at the Slayer, "what are you doing?!"

"Keeping you from fainting", Buffy replied, "and also, language. If you faint on me here now, you can't get up and demon out to heal, and if you can't heal those wounds quickly, you have to go to the hospital."

"I know, I know", Pat grumbled, coming to her feet with the help of the blonde, "and there's no way I'll go to the hospital as long as these guys still have Willow."

She clenched her fists as she told the Slayer to step back, prompting Buffy to do just that; and moments later, she changed, her hair lengthening and thickening until it became fur, her muscles bulging out as her shape became much bulkier, her teeth lengthening and sharpening as well and a malicious red glow filling her good eye, fitting the flames which had started to flicker all over her body.

"You know, I was wondering", Buffy commented as she watched, by now quite unfazed by the transformation, having seen it a few dozen times, "does it ever hurt when you do that?"

"The teeth sometimes do", the demon rumbled in reply, her voice having deepened as well, sounding almost guttural, "why do you ask?"

"Just curious", Buffy shrugged, then grimaced as the fleshy sounds of the taller woman's wounds healing with accelerated speed came up; gritting her teeth as well, Pat grunted as the injuries healed, glad when the process finally had finished, waiting just a few moments longer to make sure all the damage was gone before she returned to her human form, glad that no one had seen her change and that her clothes had survived the process.

"Alright", she then stated, stretching and grimacing as she still could feel the pain, "now, how to find them? I don't want to leave Willow in their grasp longer than absolutely necessary, who knows what they might do to her." Her voice trembled at the last few words, just enough to let Buffy notice; taking a step closer to her, she put one hand on the taller woman's shoulder, giving her best to sound reassuring and comforting as she spoke up, and trying to not let her own worries about her best friend show.

"I'm sure she's alright", she told the demon, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly, "they'll be smart enough to figure out that their bolts didn't kill you, and that we'll come for her, so they'll keep her alive to have a negotiation basis."

"That's how I would do it", Pat nodded in reply, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of the up, "let's hope these guys think the same way. And we need to find out who they are and where they might have taken her as fast as possible."

"I suppose you can't follow the scent of the van, right?" Buffy hopefully asked, her face falling when the taller woman shook her head, a regretful sigh coming from her moments later.

"No", she then confirmed verbally as well, "I could possibly if it was the only car around for miles, but not in the middle of the city. My nose is good, but not that good."

"Pity", Buffy sighed, then dug out her phone, "I'll call Giles and tell him about this, maybe he'll know something."

"Yeah, let's hope so", the demon muttered, then fell silent as the Slayer dialled her Watcher's number; and while he took the call and she started explaining, she looked into the direction the van had taken, her heart clenching up yet again as she asked herself what these guys might be doing to her partner right now and if she really would be alright.

* * *

When Willow came around again, the first thing she noticed was that she couldn't see, and briefly panicked for a moment; then, she felt the cloth tied around her head and realized that she had been blindfolded, her dismay about this increasing even further when she noticed moments later that her hands had been bound behind her back.

"She's awake", a male voice came, "finally, I already thought you knocked her into a coma, Richard."

"I didn't hit her that hard", the man named Richard protested at once; and then she felt herself being grabbed and hauled to her feet, his voice surprisingly close to her ear when he spoke up again moments later.

"We'll take you to see the boss now", he let her know, "so he can decide what we'll do with you. And you better not be disrespectful to him. He doesn't like that. Come on, move it."

She let out a vaguely agreeing noise as he started pushing her along, the sound her feet made on the ground prompting her to guess that it was concrete; they walked for a while, then she heard a door open, and moments later, her blindfold was removed, the witch nearly recoiling when the first thing she saw was one of the ugliest demons she ever had laid eyes on, a big, scaly thing with more arms than it was natural, two of them ending in sharp, elongated pincers, the whole appearance absurdly reminding her of a giant, brown praying mantis.

"The witch", the demon greeted her, the sight of his faceted eyes looking her over making her slightly uneasy, "welcome to my home. I'm Deira, the corruptor."

"Nice to meet you", Willow gave back the first thing which came to her mind, no matter how senseless it might be, "Willow Rosenberg, witch and best friend of the Slayer."

"I'm well aware of your friends", Deira gave back, and even though it should have been impossible to tell, the redhead knew that the demon was smiling, "and of the woman you share your bed with. They are the only reason you're still alive."

"Could they also be a reason for untying me?" Willow wanted to know, well aware of the two men standing close behind her and the other robed figures close to the throne-like chair the demon was sitting on, "cause my hands are really starting to hurt by now."

"In a moment", Deira replied, to her endless surprise; he nodded at one of the men behind her, and moments later, something cold closed around her neck, prompting her to jump in surprise, the mantis-like demon chuckling in amusement at her reaction.

"No worries", he then told her, leaning forward on his seat, "just a safety measure. Yet another artefact I required. It's a torc which will supress your abilities to cast spells as long as you wear it. I promise it will be removed before we let you go."

"…alright", Willow gave back, even though she didn't like the thought of having this thing around her throat; Deira gave her another smile, then nodded at the man behind her, and moments later, her hands were untied, the redhead absent-mindedly rubbing her wrists as she held the demon's gaze, not sure what to expect from him now.

"So what now?" she thus asked after a moment, glancing nervously at the men surrounding the demon and her; in response, he leaned back into his chair, then reached beneath the folds and flaps of the wings on his back, surprising her moments later by pulling out a pipe, of all things.

"We wait", Deira replied, holding his pipe out to one of his lackeys, the man immediately and obediently lighting it up for him, "for your friends to come. I'm sure it won't take them long."

"And then what?" Willow demanded to know, feeling uneasy again, "you'll kill them, and me?"

"No", Deira reassured her, sounding so honestly shocked that it was almost comical, "I have no interest in killing you. And no need to. I've got the Staff, and it's all I wanted and needed."

"What do you want with the Staff?" the witch dared to ask, only to regret it moments later as behind her, Richard snarled – and then hit her, low in the back, causing her to stumble forward as she grit her teeth in pain, the man's voice full of annoyance when he told her to hold the question and that this was none of her business.

"Tsk, tsk", Deira let out, giving his crony a disapproving look, "Richard. She's our guest. We'll treat her accordingly. Show her to one of the guestrooms, please."

"Yes, Sir", Richard demurely replied, then took hold of the witch's arm again; knowing that without her magic, there wasn't much she could do, she let it happen that he led her out of the room and down the hallway again, stopping in front of another door, making a point of unlocking it before he shoved her inside, the door slamming shut and being locked behind her again moments later.

"Jeez, tetchy much?" the witch mumbled to herself as she turned to glare at the door; then, she focused on the room again, having to admit that, for a room intended to hold her prisoner, it was quite nice, with a comfy looking bed and a table with two chairs, even though the only window in the room had been barred to keep her from climbing out through it.

"At least I got a window", she muttered as she moved over to said window and looked outside, trying to figure out where she was, to her dismay only seeing desert around her, "they could have just as well locked me up in some cellar room…"

She let out a small sigh, then gave the bars in front of the window an experimental tug, not surprised when they didn't move at all; momentarily, she wished for the kind of strength Buffy or her partner had, then shrugged those thoughts off, telling herself that it might be just as useful to wish for Deira to drop dead in her current situation.

Instead of wasting any more time on wishes which wouldn't be fulfilled anyway, she let go of the bars and reached up to touch the torc around her throat instead; it felt harmless enough, slightly cold and metallic to her touch, and she frowned to herself as she asked herself how exactly it was supposed to keep her from doing any magic.

Figuring that there was just one way to find out if what the demon had told her was true, she concentrated, performing the first spell which came to her mind, one of the very first ones she had learned – rather simple magic, used to float objects through control and willpower, her gaze focusing on the chair, her eyes narrowing as she tried to find the flow of energy within her, the spark which would let her use the magic and make the chair rise from the wooden floor.

She felt the torc around her throat heat up, briefly asking herself if it would grow hot enough to actually burn her – and then the energy was there, dark and strong and vicious and the chair not only started to float, but was thrown through the room and hit the wall hard enough to make it shatter into tiny pieces, a malicious smirk curling Willow's lips as her darkened gaze moved on to the door, the wood being blown to smithereens the blink of an eye later.

Outside, she heard a surprised cry, then Richard and another man who's name she didn't know came rushing into the room, only to stop dead in their tracks when their eyes met hers and they had time to register the darkness which was filling them; and just when she started to think of new and interesting ways to make them pay for capturing her, they both dropped down to their knees and lowered their heads, mumbling "My Lady" in surprising unison, the witch's smirk widening slightly as she lowered her hands and looked at them approvingly, not even fully noticing how the darkness within her took over.


	8. Chapter 8

"Dammit", Pat grumbled at the same time, frustrated, feeling like kicking or punching something, but having nothing suitable within reach, "come on, Giles, use that big brain of yours and figure out how to find her!"

"It's not that easy", Giles gave back, taking off his glasses as he always did when he was feeling dismayed or unhappy, "we can't just do a locator spell, the way we did whenever you had gone missing."

"That makes it sound as if I go missing all the time", the taller woman grumbled, "and I know that, cause unlike me, she's not a demon, but there has to be something we can do!"

"I'm trying to come up with something", the Watcher reassured her, regretting that she had declined his offer of tea, convinced that she would be calmer, had she accepted it, "perhaps the coven might have an idea how to find her, locate her magic or…"

The phone in the demon's pocket started to blare and interrupted him, prompting him to raise an eyebrow; after a brief look of surprise, Pat pulled the phone out and glanced at it, frowning when she saw who was calling her.

"It's Willow's cell", she then explained the reason for the look on her face, "they must have taken it from her… Probably calling now to make a ransom demand."

Taking in a deep breath so she'd remain calm, she pushed the button which took the call, managing to sound surprisingly normal when she greeted whoever was calling with a simple "Yes?"; moments later, her composure slipped though as her partner's voice reached her ear, sounding frantic and scared, but at least not full of pain.

"Pat, it's me, I don't have much time to talk", she told her hurriedly, the way the demon sat up straight prompting both Buffy and Giles to give her concerned look, "they don't know I still got my phone, but they might come back any moment… They took me to the old factory, you know the one close to the woods, please come and get me out of here…"

"Yes", Pat confirmed at once, "we're on our way. Try to hide the phone, but if they find it, don't fight them, we know where you are and we'll get you out. Hold on, I love you…"

"I love you too", Willow gave back, and then the connection ended; and while she was still tucking the phone back into her pocket, the demon was already coming to her feet, hurriedly telling Buffy and Giles what she just had learned, the Slayer immediately coming to her feet as well while the taller woman was still talking.

"Let's get weapons", she stated once Pat had finished the explanation, "and go there to kick some ass. Giles?"

"Already on it", the Brit gave back, already having moved to the chest he kept at the far back of his living room; he hurriedly unlocked it, then opened it, revealing a collection of swords and axes, not surprised when the black haired woman chose one of the latter a few moments later.

Figuring that one axe was enough, Buffy took hold of a sword, swinging it a few times to make sure it was well-balanced; nodding in satisfaction, she then turned to look at the taller woman, a slightly nasty smile on her face as she spoke up, causing the Watcher to sigh when the demon started to smile in quite a similar way at her words.

"Well, then", the blonde stated, hiding the sword beneath her coat, "let's go then and kick some ass, and teach them that it is not a good idea to kidnap the Slayer's best friend."

"Let's", the taller woman agreed, tightening her grip on the axe; not even bothering to tell them to be careful, Giles just told them that they could take his car to get there faster, making them both nod before Pat accepted the keys from him and they hurried out of the house, over to where the Watcher had parked his vehicle.

"Who'll drive?" the demon wanted to know, not really surprised when immediately, Buffy told her that she should, pointing out that each and every person who ever had driven with her had said that she drove like crazy.

"Says the woman with two eyes and thus, perfect depth perception", the taller woman muttered, but didn't try to change her friend's mind, instead simply getting into the driver's seat; taking the passenger side, Buffy just smiled innocently at her, only to end up pressed into the seat when immediately after the starting the engine, Pat stepped down on the gas pedal hard.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she brought out after a few moments of shocked silence, "slow down! We could get pulled over or, even worse, crash, and how would that help Willow?"

In response, Pat let out a low growl, but did ease the pressure on the pedal after a moment, causing the car to slow down; still she was above the speed limit as she drove through Sunnydale and to the outskirts of town, Buffy shifting nervously on the seat the whole time, relief filling her when finally, the factory the witch had been talking about appeared up ahead.

"There", she unnecessarily pointed it out to the taller woman, only earning another grunt in reply; not wanting the people in the factory to hear the car approach and figure out that they were coming, the demon then pulled over and killed the engine, grabbing her axe from the backseat moments later and getting out of the car, Buffy following suit, a look of cold determination on their face as they headed for the entrance together, eager to get the witch out and to make whoever had taken her pay for that grave mistake.

* * *

To the surprise and slight relief of both Buffy and Pat, the door leading into the factory was neither locked, nor guarded; they both time to ask themselves if maybe, it was a trap, then both pushed those thoughts aside without voicing them out loud, knowing that, even if it was, they just couldn't leave Willow in there.

Holding back the urge to call out, the demon was the first to enter the run-down building, glancing around as she tried to spot any threats; the large hall was empty though, only a few forlorn looking shelves standing around, causing her to frown as she asked herself where exactly Willow had been taken – before Buffy tucked her sleeve and, once she had gained her attention, pointed out a door at the far end of the hall, the black haired woman's good eye narrowing when she spotted the footprints in the dust leading to said door.

After exchanging a quick look with Buffy, both of them proving that by now, they had fought side by side so often that no more words were necessary, they both started moving to the door, as quietly as possible; keeping the noise level down to a minimum, they moved to stand to the right and left of the doorframe, the demon waiting for the Slayer to nod at her before she reached out and turned down the knob, the door swinging open seconds later, revealing an empty hallway, several doors lining the walls.

"She must be in one of those rooms", Buffy whispered to her companion, making her nod this time; side by side, they snuck to the door closest to them, but just as the blonde reached for the knob, a bloodcurdling scream came up from behind a door farther down the hallway, making them both jump – before they exchanged shocked, wide-eyed looks, both the Slayer and the demon having recognized the voice immediately.

Without hesitating for a second, Pat started to rush down the hallway the blink of an eye later, ignoring it when Buffy called out her name sharply; without even slowing down, she burst through the door from which behind the scream had originated, only to come to an abrupt halt when, instead of finding Willow as the victim of torture or abuse, her fearful gaze spotted the redhead sitting on a strangely throne-like chair, holding the Staff in one hand, the scream ending the moment her eyes met the demon's.

"So predictable", the witch sighed, while all Pat could do was stand and stare, unable to believe what she was seeing, that the darkness had taken hold of her lover like this again, "I knew you'd come running the moment you'd think someone's hurting your precious Willow."

"Willow", the demon brought out in reply while finally, Buffy had caught up and ended up standing beside her, looking just as shocked as the taller woman was feeling, "what did they do to you…?"

"Nothing", the witch shrugged, smiling an unsettlingly cold and uncaring smile at her afterwards, "why would you think they had to do anything? I believe it's about time I let this side of me out to play again, it's been hidden for so long."

"No", Pat gave back, only now noticing the robed figures which were standing next to and behind the chair, "no, this isn't you… And you know it!"

"But this is a part of me", Willow let her know, rising from her seat and walking over to her with slow, almost casual steps, "as you should know. How often have you told me that your need for violence is part of you?"

She stopped inches from the taller woman, looking up at her and smiling – before her gaze moved to Buffy, her eyes narrowing, the Slayer letting out a yelp of surprise moments later as the Staff, once more seemingly with a life of its own, shot up, aiming for her head, the blonde managing to duck the hit in the last second.

"I'll tell you everything there is to know about violence", Willow hissed as she twirled the Staff expertly, as if she had done nothing but handle such a weapon for years, "and once I got rid of the two of you, I can tap into the real power…"

"Stop this", Buffy now was the one to try reason, even though deep inside, she knew just as well as Pat that it was useless, "Pat's right, this isn't you!"

"Oh, not willing to fight me now?" Willow wanted to know in reply, a malicious smirk curling her lips, mirrored by the men still keeping a safe distance, content with merely watching, "I remember a time when that was different. And if Giles hadn't saved the day back then, I would have kicked your self-righteous ass. But there'll be no Giles today, right?"

Before Buffy could respond to that, the Staff shot out again, and she barely managed to duck the hit yet again; and while she still was moving, a bright blast of energy shot from the end of the Staff aimed at her, hitting her in the chest and sending her backwards until the wall stopped her harshly, a grunt escaping her as she slumped down.

"You know you'll never forgive yourself if you do this", Pat still tried to reason, knowing that she couldn't fight her partner, no matter what, "she's your best friend, and I love you, don't do this Willow…"

"Telling me you love me won't work again", Willow gave back, clearly unimpressed by her lover's words, "that only did the trick once, back then. Please don't tell me you'll be a spoilsport like Buffy and won't fight me? I've been so longing for a good challenge."

"I won't fight you", the demon confirmed, only to grunt a second later as the Staff shot out and the dull end was rammed into her stomach, knocking the air out of her; and as she doubled over, the weapon moved yet again, landing painfully hard across her shoulder blades and sending her down on all fours.

"She's really not fighting back, boys", Willow told the by now chuckling watching men, "who would have thought."

Gritting her teeth against the pain, the taller woman slowly looked up at her, just in time to see her pull back the Staff the way a golfer would pull back his club on the green; and then, it swung down in a merciless, hard arc, stars exploding in her field of vision as it hit her in the lower jaw, with so much force that she was actually lifted off her feet and sent backwards, crashing against the wall next to the still dazed Slayer.

"Doesn't really matter though, does it", the witch went on, now sounding almost thoughtful, "I can still give my boys a good show, can't I? Too bad there won't be a happy ending… for the two of you."

In response, the men started cheering and clapping while the two women struggled back on their feet, both ignoring the pain of both the witch's attacks and her words; they exchanged one look, a silent promise to each other that they would find a way to end this without actually hurting the redhead, then both slid into a fighting stance, knowing that, even if they couldn't battle her, they at least had to avoid her attacks until a way to stop her from attacking them had been found.


	9. Chapter 9

"Okay", Buffy panted out fifteen minutes of sometimes successful and sometimes not so successful dodging later, blood streaming down her face and darkening her clothes in various spots while bruises were forming here and there, as well, "we really have to figure something out, not even with all my Slayer strength, I can keep this up for much longer."

"Preaching to the choir", the demon growled in reply, looking just as worse for wear as the blonde, sweat glistening on her brow and mixing with the blood dripping from a cut through her left eyebrow, "but what? We can't even get close enough to knock her out."

"No, you can't", Willow mocked, not even out of breath despite the vicious attacks she had launched against her best friend and her lover again and again, attacks both physical and magical, aided by the Staff, "so you might as well hold still while I split your stubborn skulls open with my neat little weapon here."

"Stop it", Buffy tried to reason once more, even though by now, both Pat and she knew that this wouldn't lead anywhere, "Willow, this isn't you…!"

"Oh, shut up", Willow gave back, unimpressed – before she shot forward with stunning speed and the Staff came down, the Slayer managing to throw herself aside at the last minute, thus taking a glancing blow to the head instead of the bone-shattering hit which had been intended, the impact still being enough to knock her out though.

"At least she's quiet now", one of the watching men commented, making the witch giggle, an unpleasant sound which sent shivers up and down the demon's spine; swallowing heavily, the taller woman gave her best to remain on her feet, to ignore the ache all over her body and the fear about what all of this mess might be doing to her partner.

"One down", the redhead now stated, smirking cruelly, "one to go. How's it, lover, still not willing to fight me?"

"No", Pat replied at once, ignoring the laughter of the watching men, all of them clearly amused by her reply, never taking her gaze off the witch; with her smile widening, Willow slowly moved closer to her, as if she had all the time in the world – and then the Staff snapped up and she fired a bright bolt of energy at her partner, a low grunt coming from the demon when it hit her in the stomach and sent her flying a few feet before she landed on the cold ground, skittering a bit further until coming to a halt.

"I think I'll kill you first", Willow told her, walking over to where she laid, struggling to get to her feet, and keeping her from doing just that by straddling her, "and take care of the Slayer once she came back around. I want to see the look in her eyes when her best friend kills her."

Still smiling, she gripped the Staff at the ends with both hands, then brought it down, across the taller woman's throat, and pressed downwards with shocking strength; and almost immediately, Pat's flow of air was cut off, choking noises coming from her as her face reddened, the sounds she was making as she struggled for breath again causing the watching men to start laughing and cheering once again.

"Finish her!" one of them yelled while the demon kept struggling for breath; clearly though, Willow wasn't willing to do just that all too quickly, releasing her pressure on the Staff just enough so the taller woman could suck in a lungful of air every now and then, a malicious glint in her eyes as she watched the struggle of her partner.

Unable to believe that this really was happening, that the woman she loved was strangling her slowly, all Pat could do was stare up at her, darkness already starting to bloom at the edges of her vision; smiling down on her, Willow leaned forward slightly to put even more pressure on the Staff, the movement exposing the torc around her throat, the demon's mind starting to race as she tried to remember if she ever had seen her partner wear this strange thing before and if, perhaps, it could be responsible for what was happening to her.

As if to confirm the suspicion, far-fetched as it might seem to her in her predicament, she realized that the torc was pulsing faintly, darkening and then lightening up again, making it obvious that, even if it wasn't evil and responsible for Willow was doing, it at least was fuelled by magic, prompting the demon to take the chance in a last desperate attempt to save herself and her partner from the darkness which had taken hold of her yet again.

Reaching up with both hands, she grit her teeth as she grasped the torc, and tried to get her fingers beneath it; and almost immediately, Willow reacted, her eyes narrowing before she let go of the Staff with one hand and easily grabbed both of the taller woman's wrists, forcing her arms above her head and glaring down on her.

"No touching of my jewellery", she then hissed, the pressure of the Staff vanishing from the taller woman's throat moments later – before it came down, the dull end hitting her hard in the temple, fireworks going off in her brain before her good eye rolled back into her head and darkness took her.

Snarling at her unconscious body, Willow came to her feet, ignoring the calls of the men to kill both the Slayer and the demon; instead, she prodded the unconscious form with the Staff, as if to make sure that she really was out cold, then looked at the watching men, her voice cold and uncaring when she spoke up.

"Take them to downstairs and chain them up. Separate rooms", she ordered, leaning on the Staff rather casually now, "I might still have use for them. Make sure they can't free themselves, keep the demon from standing up or she'll change."

"Yes, my Lady", two of them agreed in perfect unison, then moved forward without missing a beat; each of them picked up one of the knocked out women, carrying them off moments later, the witch watching them go with a small smile on her face.

* * *

When Pat woke up again, the first thing she noticed was the throbbing pain all over her body; and the second fact which registered on her still rather slowly working mind were the heavy manacles around her wrists, chaining her to the wall she'd been slumped against, the chain connecting the steel to said wall being so short that it kept her from moving more than a few inches, and made standing up impossible.

"Dammit", she grumbled to herself, shifting slightly on the cold cement floor, a movement she immediately regretted as it made the throbbing pain even worse, the feeling of dried blood on her face not helping with getting more comfortable; telling herself that at least for now, she had to deal with the pain, since she could only demon out while standing up, the demon glanced around, looking for anything she might use to free herself.

To her dismay, they had chained her up in a tiny room, with no furniture or other useful items at all; she suspected that it had been some sort of closet before it had been turned into a cell, her heart skipping a beat when she, quite belatedly, realized that she was alone on the room and that Buffy was nowhere to be seen.

"Buffy?" she called out after a moment, asking herself if the blonde was even still alive and, if she was, if she had been locked up within earshot; when no response came, she swallowed heavily, shifting on the ground yet again as she tried to get a good look at the ring connecting the chains to the wall, trying to figure out if she'd be able to rip it out, like she had done not all too long ago, when Willow and she had been chained up in a similar way, in the secret hideout of a crazed shapeshifter.

Thinking of that situation made her think of her partner again, and of how she had been acting, clearly taken over by the dark magic yet again; this time, it was different to the last time it had happened, with the darkness a part of her, changing her, but not controlling her the way it had done before.

Again, she remembered the strange torc she had seen around her partner's throat, and how she immediately had tried to keep her from removing it; before she could ponder it any further though, footsteps approached the door leading to the small room, and half a minute later, it opened, the demon not surprised to find herself looking at Willow, the darkness still in the redhead's eyes, a smirk curling her lips as she looked down on her captive.

"Well, well, well", she then started, moving closer to her and lowering herself into a crouch, "the demon's the first one to wake up. I'm impressed."

"Where's Buffy?" Pat demanded to know in reply, giving her best to hide how much seeing Willow like this was freaking her out, "what did you do to her?"

"Wouldn't you like to know", the witch gave back, with a hint of teasing in her voice, the demon's heart clenching up at the sound as she remembered how often she had heard her partner use that certain tone, always in a much happier and kinder context and never meant to really hurt her, "but I can calm you down, I didn't kill her. Yet."

"Want to finish me off first?" the demon wanted to know, giving her best to keep the tremble out of her voice; to her surprise, Willow just smiled and shook her head, then reached out with one hand and ran it down the taller woman's cheek, forcing her to bite back a wince as it brought up fresh pain in the cuts and bruises there.

"For now, I'm not finishing off anyone", she told her, her hand coming to a surprisingly tender rest on her cheek, "I'll keep both Buffy and you alive. Because I know how you all work, and so I know that you told Giles where you are going when you came to rescue me. Which means that, if he doesn't hear from you, he'll show up here sooner or later."

"And then what?" Pat dared to ask, even though she wasn't sure she'd like the answer, "you'll use us to make sure he won't try to harm you? You could just kill him as well, and you know it."

For a few moments, Willow held her gaze in response, clearly considering her words – before she smiled again, a strange glint in her eyes when she replied, her other hand moving up as well and coming to a rest in the taller woman's neck.

"Perhaps", she then told her, "but I'm sure I'll also find good use for him. I already know your purpose…"

And then, before Pat could reply anything, the redhead had leaned closer and pressed her lips to hers, kissing her; it wasn't a gentle and sensual kiss, like the ones they usually shared, but demanding and hungry and almost brutal, her grip on the black haired woman's neck tightening when she tried to pull away.

"Come on", the redhead mumbled against her lips at her continued strain to break the kiss, "since when don't you like kissing me? I'm your girl, remember?"

"Right now, I doubt that", Pat gave back, fighting down the urge to flinch back when Willow leaned closer to her again, bending down to she could start kissing and sucking her neck, "my girl wouldn't beat her best friend and me up like that."

"Since when don't you like it a bit rough", Willow mumbled in response, her breath hot against her skin – before she bit down on her neck hard enough to make her yelp, her hands at the same time moving to the front of her shirt and ripping it open with unexpected force, exposing her chest and stomach to her greedy, not all too gentle touch.

"Stop", Pat pressed out between grit teeth, wincing when the witch's fingers ran over a rather sore spot at her ribs, pushing down at the noise she made, as if the redhead was keen on hurting her, "take your hands off me, or I'll burn you, I swear."

"Aw, come on", Willow gave back, forcing her hands up above her head when she tried to bring them up so she could push her away, "as if you could ever do that to me. Don't be like that, Honey, just relax and enjoy…"

She smirked at her, then kept her from protesting with yet another harsh kiss, her hands sliding down the taller woman's upper body and to her pants, tugging at her belt; and then, all at once, a low thump came up as something hard connected with the back of her head, her weight vanishing from the demon moments later, the taller woman's good eye widening in surprise when she saw Buffy stand behind her partner, with a two by four she had gotten God knew where clutched firmly in her hands.

"Should have known that chains won't keep the Slayer for long", the blonde commented, said chains still dangling from her wrists, "you okay? Looked like she was getting rather cosy with you."

"For once, I didn't enjoy it", the demon grumbled, glad that the spell Willow had used to keep her immobile had worn off the moment she had been knocked out, "so, thanks. How come you could knock her out so easily?"

"Not sure", Buffy gave back, looking down on the unconscious witch, "it surely wasn't so easy when we fought after she absorbed all that dark magic for the first time. But on the other hand, her hair didn't go black this time, so maybe it's not fully charged."

"Yet", Pat sighed, looking at her knocked out partner in dismay, "who knows how much worse this will get before we figure out how to… bring her back. That reminds me though, after she knocked you out, she tried to strangle me, and I noticed this strange thing around her throat… Look."

With those words, she pulled down the collar of the witch's blouse, exposing the torc; frowning, Buffy bent closer to look at it, then glanced up at the demon again, a mixture of surprise and worry in her voice when she spoke up. "I've never seen her wear this before. And there's some kind of light pulsating inside it."

"Yes", the taller woman nodded, "which is why I'm pretty sure this is responsible for her going more or less dark. I tried to remove it when she tried to strangle me, but she stopped me from doing so, and by now, I'm not sure anymore it's a good idea to just tear it off, who knows what it might do to her."

"We better let Giles decide that", Buffy decided, throwing the makeshift club aside, "so come on, we better get moving." And with those words, she grasped the chains and simply ripped them from the wall, her muscles bulging just enough to show that this took quite a bit of strength from her; smirking, the demon thanked her, then bent down to pick the unconscious Willow up on her arms, following the blonde outside moments later, both of them hoping that they would make it outside unnoticed and without any more fighting, knowing that they were in no shape to battle anyone after the beating they both had taken.


	10. Chapter 10

To their relief, they made it outside and to the car without being spotted by anyone, the men who had been with Willow when they had found her clearly not having bothered to put up some sort of guard, believing in the strength of the witch; and after crudely tying the redhead up with the demon's belt and a piece of rope Buffy had found in the trunk of Giles' car, they put her on the backseat before they drove off, both of them hoping that she wouldn't wake up and cause trouble on their way to the Watcher.

"I hope Giles will have a solution for this", Buffy sighed after the demon just had driven on in silence for a while, turning in the passenger seat so she could glance at her best friend's unconscious form, "it'd be just too wonderfully easy if removing that thing around her throat would be all we have to do to bring her back to normal."

"Don't jinx it", Pat grumbled, briefly glancing at her before she focused on the road again, "it'd be nice if things would just go well for once."

"Indeed", Buffy agreed, and as if that had been some sort of signal, a low, but still surprisingly loud whirring sound approached the car so fast that none of the two had time to react, followed by a heavy thump as whatever had caused the sound landed on the roof of the car, prompting the demon to curse viciously while Buffy merely flinched, then rolled her eyes, sounding annoyed when she commented on how she obviously had jinxed it already.

"Obviously!" Pat gave back, only to jump in her seat moments later as, with the metal crumbling like paper, the creature which had landed on the car rammed one foreleg through the roof, using the sharp, vaguely thorn-like and hardened part at the end of said leg, only the demon's fast reflexes keeping her from ending up with said thorn in her head as she ducked at the very last moment.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" she cursed without really noticing that she was doing it as the claw was pulled back, then rammed through the roof again, trying to get Buffy this time, the Slayer managing to avoid the attack by throwing herself against the car door; they heard a strange, high-pitched chitter from the roof – and then the loud shriek of metal followed as whatever had taken residence up there started to work on removing the roof from the rest of the vehicle, prompting the demon to unleash another string of dirty words.

"Language", a well-known, but unusually cold and uncaring voice whispered into her ear from behind, and just as her good eye went wide, the belt they had used to tie Willow's hands behind her back was slung around her throat from behind and the redhead pulled, jerking her back against the driver's seat and cutting off her flow of air.

"Stop the car", Willow hissed as she pulled the loop she had formed even tighter, smiling maliciously at the choking sounds the taller woman was starting to let out yet again, "now!"

"Stop!" Buffy snapped in reply, leaning over as far as she dared to in her seat and giving her best to make the witch do just that; the resulting scuffle, along with the fact that she still was being choked, made it increasingly difficult for the demon to focus on her driving, her sight blurring as the lack of oxygen started to become an issue.

The fact that, on the roof, the creature was still working hard to tear the car open, didn't make driving exactly easier for her; and thus, it didn't come as a surprise when the vehicle started to swerve all over the street, causing the scuffle between Buffy and Willow to become even rougher and more uncontrolled than it had been seconds earlier.

Dimly, she heard Willow snarl at Buffy to let go of her, followed by the sound of a fist meeting flesh, and then the Slayer crashed against her, the impact having enough force to finally cause the complete loss of control over the car, the vehicle crashing into a tree at the side of the road moments later in an ear-shattering cacophony of shattering glass and screeching metal.

For a while, there was silence afterwards, only broken every now and then by random hissing noises from the car's ruined engine, steam and smoke rising from the smashed hood; and then, the creature, still clinging to the roof, shook itself before it let go of the vehicle and hopped down more or less elegantly, looking mildly curious as it peered inside, almost smiling when immediately, the back door of the car was pushed open and Willow climbed out, running one hand through her tousled hair, the few cuts she had taken during the crash healing so fast that they were gone by the time she spoke up.

"Deira", she greeted the demon, looking up at him, now rather unimpressed by his size and appearance, "took you long enough."

"Well, sorry", the demon replied, irritated, "they had to realize first that you were gone, then had to wake me up and _then _I had to find you. I think I was rather fast, considering all this."

"Whatever", the redhead shrugged off his words, then looked at the front of the car, a smirk curling her lips again when she saw Pat slumped over the steering wheel, blood trickling down her cheek, and Buffy hanging in the passenger seat, the window cracked where her head had been dashed against it during the crash, both of them still breathing, but out cold.

"Should we kill them?" Deira asked as he watched the witch study the two women, "to make sure they won't interfere again?"

"No", Willow decided after a moment, looking at him again, an evil glint in her darkened eyes, "let them try again. It is so amusing to beat them down, especially the looks their get on their faces when I kick their asses. Especially the demon, she's soooo in love with me."

"What a disgrace", Deira shook his triangular head, glaring at the unconscious Pat, "for all of our kind. Shame."

In response, Willow just shrugged, then nodded when the demon asked her if she was ready to go back to their place; she took one last look at the unconscious figures in the car, and briefly, just for the split of a second, her facial expression softened – before the cold and uncaring look slipped back and she turned away, walking off with Deira by her side a moment later, without looking back.

* * *

"Come on, wake up", a concerned, vaguely familiar voice reached her ears, "please? Come on!"

Groaning in response, hoping that this would shut the speaker up – and, perhaps, as she only noticed now, make him stop patting her cheeks – Pat forced her good eye open even though it felt as if the eyelid weighed a ton; and moments later, she found herself looking at Xander, the young man peering back at her highly concerned, looking slightly relieved when he noticed that she had finally done what he had told her to and had woken up.

"Pat's awake!" he now called out, talking to someone behind him the demon couldn't see, "see? And you said hitting her cheeks won't help!"

"Yes, I did", she heard Giles sigh, but before she could try to look around for him, Xander was focusing on her again, asking her if she could hear him.

"Yeah", she grumbled in reply, giving her best to ignore the ache all over her body while slowly, her memories of what had happened were coming back to her, the creature attacking them in the car, Willow choking her from behind and the crash…

"Willow", she thus brought out, trying to sit up so fast that it made her head spin, reminding her of the fact that she had been thrown against the steering wheel rather harshly when the car had crashed into the tree, "and Buffy… are they…?"

"Willow's gone", Xander told her regretfully, feeling bad for her when she slumped back down in response, "and Buffy's a bit banged up, but she'll be fine, Giles says."

"Yes, she will be", Buffy herself confirmed, appearing in the taller woman's field of vision moments later, blood drying on her face, and despite the confidence in her voice, the demon could see that she was in quite a bit of pain, "but I won't be in a state to fight for a while, I think I broke my arm in the crash…"

"Crap", Pat gave back, glancing at said arm and having to admit that Buffy was probably right, the way it hung down her side rather limply making it obvious that it wasn't the way it should be, "how long does your Slayer healing need to deal with this?"

"Longer than we have", Giles answered for the blonde, looking at the taller woman in dismay, "from what Buffy told me about Willow's behaviour, we have to act fast."

"Do you know what that thing around her throat is?" Pat wanted to know while she held on to Xander to come to her feet, making the Watcher nod, a hint of concern in his voice when he answered her question.

"Yes, I do", he confirmed verbally as well, "it's yet another artefact, used to increase the magical abilities of the one wearing it. It must have been tampered with to bring out the dark magic within her… If what I deduced from Buffy's description is right and I identified it correctly."

"Afraid you are", Pat grumbled, then asked them all to step back; knowing what she was about to do, they did so, the Watcher speaking on rather unperturbed by the fact that she changed into a hairy and burning beast right in front of them – by now, they all had seen this transformation often enough to not be impressed by it any longer, even having gotten used to the fleshy noises which came up as the demon's wounds started to heal.

"Removing the torc will most likely allow Willow to take control over the dark magic again", he told the small group while the flames flickering all over Pat's now rather bulky body threw dancing shadows on the street, "but only if we manage to do so fast enough. If she's under the influence of the torc and the magic for too long, it might be irreversible…"

"And removing it won't harm her?" the demon grumbled in response, "cause the last thing we need now is that I go there to fight and then end up hurting her when I take this thing off her."

"It shouldn't harm her", Giles let her know, then raised an eyebrow as she went down on all fours, "and, judging from your position, I assume you'll rush off there right now to find out if I'm right."

"Yes", the taller woman confirmed, "and you guys won't tag along. I need to get her alone to remove this thing from her, so I'll have to take out her robed cronies first, and I can't do that if you are trailing along behind me."

"Do be careful", Giles sighed in reply, not even trying to make her change her mind – being with Willow had mellowed her considerably and had brought out her human side more than anything else might have had, but whenever someone made the mistake of threatening or even harming her partner, all bets were off.

"What Giles said", Buffy added, giving her a concerned look, knowing about the damage she had taken during the last few hours, "and don't let anyone kill you."

"Won't happen", Pat rumbled, making the Slayer nod, regretful about the fact that she couldn't come along, but knowing that she'd only be in a burden in her current state; and thus, she just watched how the demon took off, moving surprisingly fast on all fours, perhaps not looking all too dignified, but at the same time making sure that, to the civilian random onlooker, she'd appear as an extraordinarily large, shaggy dog, and before they'd get a second, closer look and realize that this wasn't exactly what she was, she'd be too far away already to be sure.

Still ignoring the various aches, she kept making her way through the quiet outer skirts of Sunnydale; as always after healing, she could still feel the various injuries all over, knowing it would remain that way for a while longer, but not letting this slow her down; and even though she wasn't as fast as the car had been, not even on all fours, she made quite the good speed, the abandoned factory appearing up ahead not all too long after she had left the crash site.

Slowing down, and making sure that no flames were burning anywhere on her body, she straightened up, using the shadows provided by the trees close to the factory to stay out of sight; she remembered her glowing red eye in the last moment and toned that down, as well, making sure to not make a single sound as she studied the factory, figuring that now, they would be smarter and would have put up guards, surely expecting the witch's friends to come and get her yet again.

It didn't take long until her assumption was proven to be correct; whistling softly, a man in a black robe rounded the corner, then stopped and looked around before he leaned against the wall and lit up a cigarette, the demon rolling her good eye in annoyance – if this man was supposed to guard the entrance, he wasn't doing so very professionally, and the fact that he was doing it alone only made it even more obvious that they had no idea what they were doing.

_One would think they'd do whatever they want to do with better preparation_, Pat thought to herself as she changed back to her human form, momentarily glad that her clothes had survived the process – before she started moving through the shadows, making sure to keep the sound of her footsteps down to a minimum as she snuck closer to the building, only to freeze when the man dropped his cigarette to the ground and started walking again, moving away from the door, unknowingly turning his back on her.

_That's almost too easy, _she thought as she watched him, a smirk curling her lips; speeding up slightly, she still made sure to move quietly, in case there was some second guy around somewhere; and the one in front of her had no idea that she was there until it was way too late, a small, muffled gurgle coming from him as she slung one arm around his throat from behind, cutting off his flow of air before he could call out.

Moving one hand to his jaw and the other to the back of his head before he could figure out what was happening, she gave a powerful jerk and broke his neck, the crack sounding awfully loud in the quiet area; not wanting to make even more noise, she gingerly lowered him down on the ground, smirking to herself as she bent over him and removed his robe, glad that he was her size as she put it on and pulled the hood as deep into her face as it would go without obstructing her already limited view, then entered the factory, hoping and praying that she wouldn't be too late and that she'd manage to remove the torc from Willow before its influence on her would grow too big and she'd be lost to the dark magic within her.


	11. Chapter 11

On her way to the room where Buffy and she first had encountered Willow, Pat ran into two more of the robed men, and dealt with both of them swiftly and mercilessly; thanks to the robe she had put on, they didn't realize that she wasn't one of them until she was close enough to act, taking them down as she had the guard outside, and storing their bodies in the nearest empty rooms she found.

Still remembering well where what she had dubbed the "fight room" was located, she made her way there after dealing with the second of the robed guys; already from afar, she could hear voices talking behind the door leading to it, her heart speeding up in her chest when she immediately recognized one of them as Willow's.

"Not much longer now", the witch was saying, making her wonder whom she was talking to and about what, "then we can start the ritual. I just need to grow a bit stronger first."

"We have time", another, unknown voice replied, "even if your… friends… show up here again, we'll just deal with them and then continue. Do make sure though that you don't use up too much of your power handling them."

Stopping in front of the door, Pat leaned closer to it to listen, eager to find out what this all was about; she frowned as Willow spoke up again in response to the stranger, not liking the cold sound of her partner's voice at all.

"Of course. With the Staff, I can deal with them easily without magic, and the more I use it, the easier our task becomes", the redhead was explaining, "so after they come back here and I kicked their asses, we can probably get started."

Waiting for the other speaker to reply, Pat asked herself if she should charge in now or wait to see if she could find out more; and that was when the door was blown outwards and slammed into her, driving her back and against the wall, a mixture of grunt and groan escaping her as she hit the wall and ended up pinned between the door and the stone behind her, the wooden panel held up by Willow's magic as she smiled at her cruelly through the now empty frame.

"Eavesdropping not a nice thing to do, Sweetie", the redhead stated, putting so much venom into the last word that it sounded more like an insult than a pet name, "didn't anyone ever teach you that?"

Slowly, she walked over to where the taller woman was still struggling against the door holding her against the wall; and when it dropped away all at once, she nearly stumbled, losing her balance at the unexpected lack of restrain.

Stepping forward much faster now, Willow reached out with one hand and grabbed her at the throat, making her yelp as she was jerked closer, then lifted off her feet; holding her in the air for a few moments, the witch glared up at her with her still blackened eyes, then tossed her aside if she was some sort of ragdoll, sending her flying into the very room she had been in, crashing to the ground close to the one she had been talking to, a shockingly large demon looking vaguely like a praying mantis.

"She came alone?" said demon wanted to know, stalking closer to her on thin, but obviously strong legs, "that's rather dumb."

"I bet the Slayer's out of commission", Willow gave back, "she looked pretty banged up after that crash. Pat here would be in the same state if she couldn't heal. Right, honey?"

She smiled as she walked over to the black haired woman, going down into a crouch next to her, using a short gesture to flip her over on her back; smiling at her, she reached down and ran one hand down the taller woman's cheek, a hint of regret in her voice when she spoke on.

"You know", she told the demon, holding her gaze, letting her see the darkness in her eyes, "when you first came here, I wanted to keep you alive, if only to have someone for my… more carnal pleasures. And maybe to feed from your magic so I'd gain my full strength faster. But now that I'm almost there, I don't really have need for you anymore…"

She let out an almost regretful sigh, then glanced up at the mantis demon, her words making Pat's eye widen, magic keeping her from doing anything else though, keeping her immobile while Willow spoke to her demonic companion.

"It's been a while since you fed, no?" she wanted to know, gesturing at the captured black haired woman, "so go ahead. Rid me of her."

"My pleasure", Deira replied with a greedy glint in his eyes; Pat still had time to let out a horrified "Willow", then the mantis demon had moved up to her, grabbed her with shockingly strong forelegs, the thorn-like claws he had used on the car roof not all too long ago digging into her back as he lifted her off the ground – and then his triangular head shot down and he bit down on the soft flesh between shoulder and throat, the taller woman finding herself unable to hold back a scream as he tore a chunk of it out and devoured it noisily.

"I so love this", he sighed after swallowing, blood dripping from his mandibles, "the taste of fresh flesh and blood, and the screams…"

Next to him, Willow just nodded, keeping her gaze fixed on the demon as Deira lowered his head and bit down again; trembling in his grasp, Pat grit her teeth as her fists flamed up and she brought them down hard on his head, but he only tightened his grip on her in response, his claws digging in even deeper, his skin too hard to let her do much damage to him, resembling the chitin of the insect he looked like so much.

"Willow", the demon brought out again, her gaze moving from the creature feasting on her to her partner, another shudder running through her as she felt his jaws move and tear out more of her flesh, "please… Don't let him do this, you know you don't want this to happen, please…"

Her pain and desperation were clearly audible in her voice as she realized that Willow wouldn't help her and that there was nothing she could do against this demon, not as long as he held her in his grasp like this, where she couldn't access the softer, unshielded parts of his body; desperately, she tried to kick him in a last attempt to free herself, and then his jaws bit down on the side of her neck and she screamed again, finding herself unable to bring out another word as the pain was everything her world was made of.

And just like it had back at the car crash site, something in the witch's eyes changed as she watched her lover's struggle and agony, watched her writhe in the demon's grasp, tears streaming freely down her cheeks as Deira bit down again, on her other shoulder this time, tearing yet another chunk of flesh out; he gulped it down noisily, the blood which was dripping from his mouth mixing with the puddles forming on the floor from the deep wounds he had inflicted on his prey, the sight touching something deep within Willow, bringing memories and thoughts the torc and the dark magic had buried as deep as possible back to the surface.

Swallowing heavily, she found herself thinking of all the times the demon had saved her life and had nearly lost hers in the process; how she had been stabbed and shot and beaten to protect her, how she had felt when she had thought that the taller woman had died, and how happy and relieved she'd been when she'd found out that she was alive and well.

Slowly, not even fully realizing that she was doing it, she moved closer to Deira, the mantis demon not paying attention on her the slightest; she took another look at her partner, thought of all the times they had kissed and all the times the black haired woman had held her when she had needed it, and suddenly the black was gone from her eyes, the torc burning hot around her throat as it tried to regain control over the dark magic within her, but she wouldn't let it, instead bringing up her hand and mumbling a few words under her breath, a sharp gesture at the mantis following the last one – and suddenly his grasp on Pat vanished as he shrunk rapidly, letting out a shriek of disbelief which quickly faded along with his size, the black haired woman slumping to the ground in a lifeless heap, bleeding from numerous fresh wounds.

"Oh God", Willow brought out as she fully realized what she had done, what kind of horrible pain she had allowed to be inflicted on her partner; without wasting another look at the now properly mantis-sized Deira, she rushed to where her lover laid, falling down on her knees next to her, her heart and mind racing as she tried to figure out if she had acted too late after all or if there still was a chance for her, if she had saved her in time and would have the chance to make up for all the horrible things she had done under the torc's dark influence.


	12. Chapter 12

The first thing Willow checked was if her partner was still breathing, relieved when she felt warm air against her fingers as she held them to the taller woman's nostrils; clearly, Pat was out cold though, and since she knew how many of the men Deira had hired for his dirty work were around, the witch was well aware of the fact that just waiting for her to wake up so she could heal was not an option.

_Not to mention the blood loss, _she thought to herself, her heart clenching up as she watched how blood kept dripping from the numerous wounds, forming puddles on the floor, _who knows how much she lost already, and will lose until she wakes up… there has to be something I can do…_

"She's dying, and you know it", Deira's voice spoke to her, surprisingly loud despite the fact that he had been shrunken down to a mere twentieth of his former size, "and you also know that there is nothing you can do."

"Shut up or I'll step on you", she threatened in reply, not even looking at the tiny insect; giving her best to calm down, she took in a few deep breaths, her mind still racing as she tried to figure out how to help her lover, knowing deep inside that there had to be something she could do, even if it'd only be a small healing spell to stop the bleeding.

Thinking of a healing spell made her remember the moment not too long ago, when she had eased her lover's blinding headache with her magic; it hadn't been a particular spell she had used, just the need to help the woman she loved guiding the energies within her, and now, she tried to tap into that again as she placed both hands on the wound which looked the most dangerous and was bleeding the most, the gaping slash in the taller woman's throat, giving her best to ignore how the blood made her fingers sticky and wet as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

_Heal, _she thought to herself, breathing slowly and calmly, thinking of all the times she had seen her partner heal in her demonic form, how the flesh had mended itself, and trying to make it do just that again now; and after a minute, a warm, golden glow started to form around her hands, the flow of blood lessening, then stopping as the glow spread, seeping into the wound and bathing it in its warm light.

With sweat forming on her brow, Willow kept up the flow of energy, even though she felt that it was taking a lot of her power; and not too long afterwards, the wound had closed, and she moved on to the next, ignoring the strain it was putting on her as she let the magic take care of the injury, so focused on her spell that she didn't even notice how the fingers of the demon's right hand started to twitch.

"Heal", she now said out loud, the bites slowly starting to mend themselves as the magic did its job, "come on, you can do this, you can do this... It'll be—"

Both of Pat's hands shot up with shocking speed and closed around her throat, cutting her off; her eyes went wide as she struggled instinctively against the grip, the iron-like grasp of the taller woman's fingers around her throat keeping her from saying anything, from explaining that she wasn't evil anymore, only permitting her low, helpless choking noises.

Gasping, she grabbed at the demon's arms, trying to gain her attention long enough so she'd notice that the darkness was gone from her eyes; and moments later, she felt the taller woman's fingers slide beneath the torc, the demon gritting her teeth as she got a good hold of it and pulled, breaking it in two moments later.

The moment the torc was gone from around her throat, she felt the dark magic retreating to where it had been, forced back to the farthest edge of her mind, where it couldn't do any harm or damage unless she'd let it; and at the same time, Pat was retreating, scrambling awkwardly away from her on all fours, either not noticing or not caring that she still was bleeding from several wounds – and that others had been healed, gone without a trace.

"Pat, no", Willow hurriedly spoke up, coming to her feet again and raising her hands in what she hoped was a gesture of surrendering and not seen as threatening by the black haired woman, "it's me, I'm me, I swear, it's under control again…"

In response, the demon stopped moving backwards, but still eyed her warily, clearly not sure if she could believe her; smiling calmingly at her, Willow dared to take a step closer in reply, still keep her hands up, not wanting to give the impression that she might attack after all.

"Just take a look", she then added, gesturing at her eyes, trying to make her partner see that they had gone back to their regular green colour, "the darkness is gone, I already pushed it back before you woke up again and now that you broke the torc, it can't take over anymore…

"Prove it", Pat flatly replied, clearly not willing to believe her so fast, even though Willow could see it in her gaze that she wanted to, needed to, almost ached to do so, "prove that this isn't some kind of nasty mind game you're playing."

"I remembered", Willow gave back after thinking about this for a moment and trying to figure out how she should prove that she wasn't her evil self anymore, "while that… demon was hurting you, I remembered all the times you protected me, saved me… risked your life to save mine… and, and I thought of our first kiss, and all the others, and of how you held me whenever I needed it, and of how good this always made me feel, and it… it helped me to push the darkness back and to take control again, and I healed you…"

In response, the demon's good eye momentarily went wide – before she grabbed at her throat, her surprise only growing when she realized that the wound there indeed was gone, as well as most of the injuries in her right shoulder, only those on her other one and her back remaining, the almost comically surprised look on her face making the redhead smile slightly.

"Also", she then added, allowing a hint of mischief to enter her voice and her eyes, "I shrunk Deira. He's of a more natural size for a praying mantis now. You can step on him if you like?"

With those words, she gestured at the mantis, ignoring how it jumped up and down in response, as if to express anger about how it had been treated; then, her gaze softened as she walked over to the black haired woman and knelt down in front of her again, her eyes never leaving hers as she spoke on.

"I'm so sorry", she told her lover quietly, daring to reach out with one hand and grasping Pat's, glad when the demon didn't pull back, "for all the things I did to you while the dark magic was running wild… For how I treated you when I had you locked up here and how I hurt you…"

"That must have been the first time I didn't like it when you kissed me", Pat mumbled in reply, then gave her a wry smile; and in response, Willow moved in to hug her, her heart soaring in her chest when she felt the taller woman wrap both arms around her and hold her close, ignoring the pain this brought up in her still aching wounds.

"I'm sorry", she repeated, "I can't believe I hurt you like that, and let that mantis demon hurt you… and that if Buffy hadn't come down in that cellar, I would have…"

She couldn't even say out loud what she would have done, falling silent and swallowing heavily; clearly seeing her distress, Pat just shook her head in reply, then reached up with one hand to tenderly cup her cheek, all pain and terror forgotten as it was her turn to hold the redhead's gaze.

"To be honest, it wasn't really nice", she then told her, making the witch swallow heavily again, "but I'll survive, and I'll deal. It's what I do, especially for you… You're my girl."

"I love you", the witch breathed in reply, then leaned closer to her partner and kissed her tenderly; and to her relief, the demon immediately responded to the kiss, her hand moving from her cheek to her neck and pulling her even closer, her wounds once more ignored.

"Love you, too", she mumbled after the kiss, smiling slightly at her, "but I'll love you even more if you'll help me to get up now so I can demon out and heal."

"Oh, of course", Willow immediately gave back, momentarily feeling like slapping herself for forgetting about this and making the taller woman endure her pain much longer than necessary; quickly, but carefully, she moved out of the embrace, then helped Pat to her feet, and while the demon changed into her furrier form, she moved over to where Deira was still sitting on the ground, glaring up at her, letting out little squeaks of outrage when she bent down and picked him up, keeping a grip tight enough on him to keep him from flying or hopping away, but making sure she wouldn't accidentally squish him.

"That Deira?" Pat wanted to know while she slowly felt her wounds heal, the flesh knitting itself with the usual rather wet and sloppy noises, until no trace of them was left; nodding, Willow looked around for something she could stash him in, shaking her head at once when the demon asked if it wouldn't be better to just squish him.

"Not yet", she then told her partner, "we have to question him first. Find out what he wanted to do…"

"But you knew", Pat pointed out, sounding slightly confused now, "you were talking to him about it before… before you nearly squished me with the door."

"Sorry about that", Willow grimaced, "and, I did, really? I can't remember…"

"Yup, really", the taller woman nodded, changing back now that the healing was complete, "even though I have to say, it didn't reveal much. Just something about a ritual and how you needed to grow stronger first and how using the Staff would make the task easier."

"The Staff!" Willow nearly yelled in reply, making the black haired woman jump, "I nearly forgot about it! We have to take it along!"

"Indeed", Pat agreed at once, "and we should find a glass or something where we can stash our little friend here."

"You'll do no such thing", a third, unexpected voice spoke up behind her, surprising her so much that it made her flinch before she spun around, already bringing up her fists, the group of robed men glaring and snarling at her as they all tried to get through the doorway at once.

"Kill them!" Deira shrieked, squirming in Willow's grasp, surprisingly loud again, "now! Kill them both, now!"

In response, the men finally figured out that they couldn't get through the doorway all at once, but had to enter the room one after the other; and while they were still doing that, Pat was already moving forward to meet them, growling loudly as her good eye flashed up brightly red, the chance to finally cause some pain after having been given so much taken more than gladly by her, none of the men having an idea what they were up against until she met them and it was far too late for them to change their minds.


	13. Chapter 13

At first, Willow had been slightly worried about the odds; after all, there were seven of the men against her partner all alone, without Buffy to back her up, and her body surely still aching from the injuries which had been inflicted on her; she soon realized though that there hadn't been the slightest reason for her to worry, unable to hold back a sympathetic wince when the taller woman took the first man through the door down within seconds, simply by ducking his rather clumsy punch and then hammering her fist into his crotch.

While he still was slumping down, she already was moving on to the next guy, making him yelp in surprise by grabbing his hood and jerking it down over his head, blinding him; she gave him a second to struggle, to try to disentangle himself from the fabric, then she had punched him in the stomach twice, knocking the air out of him, before she grabbed him and tossed him backwards, against his comrades, all of them going down in a flurry of arms and legs and flapping robes.

"Should have known better than to mess with us", the demon growled as she advanced again, grabbing the one closest to her and pulling him up, only to headbutt him with enough force to send him back down, knocked out; the remaining five men tried to scramble away from her, but she'd have none of that, taking two of them out at once by slamming their heads together, having to take a punch from another one for her troubles, but retaliating with one of her own immediately and making him cry out in pain as his nose broke beneath her fist.

"Yes", Willow now agreed, watching the fighting from a safe distance and keeping a firm hold on Deira, "you guys really should have known what you are getting into. She doesn't like it if anyone tries to harm me."

"Indeed, I don't", the demon growled her agreement, then punched the one who had landed a hit once more, taking him out as well; the two remaining men exchanged one look, then tackled her in perfect unison and actually managed to throw her over, their triumph not lasting long though as almost immediately, one of them was grabbed and sent flying, a yell coming from him as he sailed through the air, only to be cut off when he hit the wall head first and slumped down to the floor unconscious.

With only one of them left now, the fight was over rather quickly and efficiently; he still was trying to pull back his fist to land a punch when Pat hammered hers into his solar plexus, throwing him off easily as his eyes widened and he gasped for breath, sending him into the land of dreams as well by grabbing his hair and jerking him up, then down, her knee meeting his face halfway.

"Well", she then stated, letting his unconscious form slump down to the ground, not even out of breath, "that was quite the nice exercise. You okay over there, Love?"

"Just peachy keen", Willow reassured her at once, almost giddy about the pet name her partner had used, as it was just another sign that she really had been forgiven all the awful things she'd done under the influence of the torc and the dark magic, "and you?"

"Fine and dandy", Pat let her know, smirking; the witch took a moment to smile back at her, then turned and made her way to the back of the room, where the Staff had been leaned against the chair she had been using not all too long ago, the redhead still making sure to keep a firm hold of Deira as she picked the Staff up.

"You can't do this", the mantis protested, once more making both Willow and Pat wonder how he could be so loud in his tiny state, "put me down at once and let me go! Who do you think you are?"

"Shut up, I said", Willow coldly told him in reply, making the demon smirk at how much contempt and disdain she managed to put into just four words, "I'm still willing to step on you, for everything you did."

"Or we could crush him", Pat suggested, holding back an evil smirk when the mantis let out a high squeak in reply, "you know, for trying to eat me alive. I'm really not all too fond of creatures doing that."

"For now, we'll take him along", the witch gave back, not sure if her partner had been serious about crushing the mantis or not, "there are still quite a few things he should tell us. I just wish we had something we can put him in, I don't wanna carry him all the way home like that."

"Maybe a glass or something", the demon pondered out loud, "we should go look for something. I'd do it on my own, but I don't want to leave you alone here, one or more of those guys might wake up again and get the idea to attack you."

"Good point", Willow had to admit, "let's go and find something then, and then leave… I still need to apologize to Buffy for what I did to her, too…"

"I'm sure she'll forgive you", Pat told her at once, already moving for the door and carelessly shoving one of the unconscious men who had dropped on the threshold aside, keeping Willow from having to step over him as they left the room together.

"Is there a kitchen or something somewhere?" the taller woman wanted to know, glancing left and right as if a signpost might appear any moment, should she just look hard enough, "or at least a fridge? We might get lucky there."

"There's some sort of break room", Willow remembered in response, briefly dismayed about the fact that she knew so much about this place, thanks to the time she had spent there under the influence of her darkness, "maybe they have a fridge in there, I've never been there. Let's go and look?"

"Sure", the demon shrugged, prompting the witch to start moving; together, they made their way down the hallway, to the room the redhead had been talking about, a slight smile curling her lips when she entered said room and spotted a fridge standing at the wall.

"Success", she told her partner, moving to the fridge, "let's see if they have something suitable in there."

"I resent that", Deira found it necessary to comment, twitching in the witch's grip, "put me down this instant! Insolence! You can't put me in a glass!"

"Watch me", Willow replied, unimpressed by his anger, since it was quite impotent in his current size; behind her, Pat smirked, then moved to open the fridge and peered inside, finding a glass of pickles moments later and figuring that this might do.

Unceremoniously, she dumped the contents into the trashcan next to the fridge, then held the glass out for Willow to drop the mantis into it; they both ignored his complains about the smell as she did just that, the demon screwing the lid back on moments later, giving the glass a sceptical look afterwards.

"We should make some holes into the lid", she then suggested, "we don't want him to suffocate in there, if there are questions we still need to ask him."

"Good point", Willow agreed, looking around for a minute until she spotted a kitchen knife on the rather messy counter; quickly, she used the sharp tip to poke some holes into the lid, then nodded when her partner asked her if she was ready to go now.

"Can you carry the glass?" she then asked, "I still got the Staff, and I want to have one hand free."

"Sure", the taller woman shrugged in reply, "no problem. Let's get moving now though before…" She trailed off as her good eye narrowed in concentration, then surprised the redhead by putting the glass on the counter without another word, gesturing at the Staff moments later, speaking on before Willow had to ask what was going on.

"You better make that thing grow", she suggested, prompting the witch to frown slightly in concern, "cause I think we're about to have company."

"Dang it", Willow muttered in reply, already unwrapping the Staff, "and here I was thinking you took them all out."

"Apparently not", her partner shrugged, clearly not minding the idea of yet another fight, watching how the redhead clutched the Staff and it immediately reacted to her the way it had before, lengthening until it almost was as reaching her height, "ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be", the witch sighed, and then the first men already appeared in the doorway, glaring at them; for once, they weren't wearing their hoods, showing their faces to the pair, looking angry and defiant as they all tried to get into the room at once, scowling and snarling at the two women.

"Let our leader go at once!" the one at the front demanded, only to be met with an eyeroll from Pat and a firm headshake from Willow; this was enough to set them off, since they let out a battle cry in quite surprising unison, then stormed into the small room, all of them eager to get their hands on the witch and the demon.

Without missing a beat, the taller woman stepped forward to meet them, greeting the one who reached her first with a hard right hook to the jaw; he stumbled back, yelping in pain and surprise, two of comrades catching him while the remaining three tried to push past them, cursing at the others to get out of the way.

"They never learn, do they", Pat commented, shaking her head; next to her, Willow let out a vaguely agreeing noise, then the Staff seemed to decide that it wanted in on the action too, briefly twitching in her hands – before it moved up and came down again in a sharp arc, hitting the one closest to the redhead right on the head and prompting him to slump down on his knees and to let go of the man Pat had punched seconds earlier, his eyes rolling back into his head as he passed out.

"Good one", the demon complimented her, then made sure that the guy she had punched first went down fully as well by grabbing the second man, jerking him towards and her, using the momentum of her own attack, turned away from the door and tossed him at the opposite wall, a grunt coming from him as his back connected harshly with the stone.

"She's using the Staff!" one of them finally caught on, "we don't stand a chance! Let's get out of here!"

"Don't you dare!" Deira shrieked from his glass prison, bouncing up and down in impotent rage, "come over here and get me out of here!"

"You're welcome to try", Pat added, smiling maliciously, her good eye flaring up brightly red and making the men step back, obvious fear in their eyes now; next to her, Willow nodded, unable to hold back a slight smirk of her own as the Staff decided to use this moment to show off, prompting her to twirl it around one wrist in a rather skilled-looking move.

"Sorry, boss", the one who had pointed out Willow's use of the Staff mumbled, having the decency to look a bit ashamed, "but we can't even get past them!"

"Get weapons!" Deira screeched in reply, prompting his followers to exchange sheepish looks before one of them pointed out that all they had were crossbows, since he had forbidden them use of guns and knives, and that, while some of them would go to get said crossbows, the couple could easily knock out the rest; in response, the mantis looked as if he wanted to explode, but before he could try to give another order, the men had retreated, hurrying down the hallway so fast that they nearly tripped over each other.

"…okay", Pat was the first one to comment this new, unexpected turn of events, "that makes things easier. Let's get outta here before they really do come back with crossbows."

Nodding, Willow waited until her partner had snatched the glass with the mantis, then hurried outside, the demon right behind her; without looking back, they made their way to the exit, leaving the abandoned building minutes later and making their way to the cover of the trees surrounding it without anyone trying to stop them, the men clearly having given up on the chase, allowing the pair to make it to safety without any more fighting, with both the Staff and the locked up Deira safely in their hands.


	14. Chapter 14

"Now we have to walk all the way back to Buffy", Pat sighed out ten minutes later, after they had put a safe distance between the abandoned building and themselves, "cause I wrecked Giles' car."

"Sorry about that", Willow mumbled, blushing as she glanced down on the sidewalk between her feet, only to look up again as moments later, the demon's free hand grasped hers and gave it a tender squeeze, her gaze meeting the warm and loving one of her partner as she glanced up at her face.

"Don't be", the taller woman told her, squeezing her hand yet again, "it's not your fault. If anyone's to blame, it's the little insect in that nice glass and the stupid torc thing he put on you."

"He tricked me with that one", Willow replied, momentarily bitter about how she had fallen for his deceit hook, line and sinker, "he told me it'd suppress my magic, so of course I had to try if it's true, and the moment I tried, the dark magic took over…"

"Well, he's smart, we have to give him that", Pat grudgingly gave back, glaring at the glass, the mantis looking back at her rather unimpressed, "but in the end, it all worked out fine, and as I said, I'm sure Buffy won't blame you. She knows just as well that it wasn't your fault…"

Hoping that the black haired woman was right, Willow nodded bravely; before she could say anything in reply though, headlights appeared up ahead, prompting both of them to slow down as they asked themselves if the men they had left behind without knocking them out first now had called reinforcements; then, they heard Xander call out "There they are!" and both sighed in relief, realizing that their friends had come to either pick them up or see if they needed any help.

"We thought you might need backup", Xander now confirmed those assumptions, "so here we are. Giles, Anya and me, armed to the teeth."

"I'm glad we don't have to fight though", Anya found it necessary to reveal while the car reached the couple and stopped next to them, revealing Giles in the driver's seat, even though it was Xander's car, "because it isn't so much fun anymore since I became human. Are you two okay?"

"Just fine", Willow reassured them, "thanks to Pat, I'm not evil anymore, we got the demon down to a handy size and we retrieved the Staff."

"A full success then", Giles smiled while the two women got into the back seat, with the witch making sure to keep the Staff from touching her skin directly, not wanting to lengthen it by accident and make the already cramped space even more uncomfortable, "and I'm glad to hear you are not evil anymore."

"Believe me, I'm glad about that, too", Willow sighed, looking guilty yet again, despite the comforting hand Pat put on her arm moments later, "I did some pretty horrible stuff. Again. I'm sorry about your car…"

"Never mind that", Giles shrugged it off at once, to her great relief, "material possessions can be rebought or repaired. The important thing is that you're both alright."

"Thank you", Willow sincerely gave back, "I'm feeling really bad about the awful stuff I did while I was evil… I still need to apologize to Buffy…"

"She'll forgive you", Xander reassured her, twisting in the passenger seat so he could look at her, "in fact, I'm pretty sure she already did. She sounded really worried when she told us to go and look if the two of you need help."

"Still", Willow sighed, dismayed, "she broke her arm and it's my fault… And that was probably still lucky, who knows what else could have happened when I made that car crash…"

"Don't dwell on the What If's", Pat advised her in response, making her look at her, "that leads nowhere. Buffy will be fine, you're fine, I'm fine, and as soon as we found out what exactly Deira was planning to accomplish with the Staff and evil you, we can put a stop to that as well and got yet another problem solved."

"Wise words", Xander agreed, making Giles and Anya nod; and after a moment, Willow did so as well, grasping her partner's hand with her free one, a smile curling her lips when immediately, the demon squeezed it tenderly, the simple gesture being enough to reassure her that, despite the horrid things she had done while she had been under the torc's influence, everything was alright between them, amazement briefly filling her once more as she thought of how quick the demon always was with forgiving her, no matter what had happened.

Fighting down the sudden urge to make a heartfelt statement about how glad she was to have the taller woman in her life, not wanting to become all mushy in front of their friends, Willow just held her gaze for a moment longer, then leaned in for a tender kiss; this prompted Anya to complain about the fact that Xander was in the front of the car while she had to sit in the back and thus, couldn't kiss him as well, both the witch and the demon successfully ignoring her though, too focused on each other and their kissing to be bothered by her complaints.

By the time they pulled apart again, the redhead's heart was beating noticeably faster in her chest, and for a moment, she couldn't wait to get back home and have some private time with her lover; then, she remembered what she nearly had done to the taller woman when she'd had her chained up in the cellar of the abandoned building, and all her lust and passion vanished into nothingness as she once more had to realize how much worse things could have gotten down there if Buffy hadn't shown up to stop her.

Swallowing heavily, she glanced at the taller woman again, asking herself if she really had gone that far, hadn't the Slayer knocked her out; and clearly, Pat sensed what she was thinking about, since she squeezed her hand yet again, shaking her head just for Willow to see when her gaze met the witch's.

Smiling weakly at her, the redhead snuggled closer to her in response, prompting her to put one arm around her shoulders and caress her upper arm tenderly; and even though she still felt bad about what she nearly had done, the smaller woman relaxed noticeably, sitting in content silence for the rest of the drive, until Giles parked the car in front of Buffy's house and they all got out, knowing that now, it was time for more apologies – and to get the truth about his plans from Deira so an end could be put to them once and for all.

* * *

"There you are", Buffy sighed out in relief a few minutes later, moving to hug at first Willow, then Pat, mindful of her broken arm, but still squeezing them both with quite the fervour, "I'm so happy you're alright. I was so worried…"

"Aw, come on", Pat smirked, once more showing that she had quite the healthy self-esteem, "as if we couldn't handle an overgrown mantis and his cronies."

"Says the woman who crashed a car thanks to the overgrown mantis", Buffy immediately teased in response, only to realize that this perhaps hadn't been the best thing to say when Willow gulped, a blush colouring her cheeks as she mumbled out the reminder that it actually had been her who had caused the crash and added an apology, prompting the blonde to give her yet another hug.

"Don't be", she then told her, forgiving her just as easily and quickly as Pat and Giles both had predicted, "it wasn't your fault. I imagine we have to thank the creepy crawly you brought along?"

"Yes", the demon confirmed, holding up the glass in which Deira still was caught, her smirk widening slightly, "Willow shrunk him when he tried to eat me, so he fit nicely in that glass, and now we can question him about his motives."

"Let's do that then", Buffy nodded, eying the mantis with disdain, "and then get rid of him. I've had previous experience with overgrown insects and they were not exactly pleasant."

"You need to tell me some day", Pat remarked, noticing how Xander flushed visibly at the Slayer's words, a fact which only intrigued her more, "but yeah, you're right, let's get some information from our insect friend here."

"I won't tell you a thing", Deira immediately told them, somehow managing to look as if he was crossing his forelegs over his chest, the way a human might do the same with their arms when annoyed, "you'll never figure out what I'm planning, and you won't be able to stop me."

"You seem to forget your position", Pat gave back, shaking the glass just enough to make him uncomfortable, "and don't think that we need you to figure out what is going on. It'll just speed things up if you tell us, but if you don't, I'll personally stomp on you and we'll find out some other way."

"You'll do no such thing", Deira replied, now sounding haughty, momentarily annoying her with how smug he was – before he spoke on, already growing as he did so, causing her good eye to widen while Willow let out a startled gasp.

"You don't really believe that a demon of my power and status just remains in such a small form because he has to", Deira thundered, still growing, the glass already creaking dangerously, "I am the Corruptor! And now you brought me to your very home, where I can easily take down all… of… you!"

And at the last word, the glass shattered, splinters flying everywhere, pained yelps coming from Pat, Willow and Buffy, the witch and the blonde staggering back clutching at their faces while blood was dripping from the taller woman's hand with which she had been holding the jar when it had been obliterated.

While he still was dropping to the ground, Deira kept growing, now cackling nastily as he reached his former size with shocking speed; and before either of the women closest to him had time to react, he had lashed out with a clawed foreleg, hitting Buffy hard at the chest and sending her down, a pained cry escaping her when she landed on her broken arm, a gruesomely loud cracking sound accompanying her yell.

"Get out of here", Pat snapped at Xander, Giles and Anya, all three of them stunned into shocked staring by this unexpected turn of events, "_now_!"

The last word was barked so sharply that it got them moving, and they all hurried outside; recovering from the shock of getting a bunch of glass splinters into her face, Willow took a few steps back to get a bit of distance to the mantis, not wanting to end up like Buffy, the blonde cringing on the floor and helplessly clutching her arm, her teeth clenched so tightly that the muscles of her jaw were working visibly beneath the skin as she tried to hold back another scream of pain.

Snarling, Pat got rid of the splinters wedged in her fingers and palm with fast, precise movements, ignoring the pain and how slick the glass had been by her blood; she had a moment to ponder how lucky she had been that no tendons had been severed, then she let her fists flame up and raised them, glaring at Deira while Willow let the leather wrappings drop to the floor and grasped the Staff, the wood once again immediately reacting to her touch and lengthening to combat size.

"For your insolence, I shall devour you first", Deira told the black haired woman, glaring at her as he raised his forelegs threateningly, the demon briefly flashing back to how much it had hurt when the thorn-like claws at the end had dug into her back, "and I'll make your redhead watch… then, I'll eat you, Slayer, and by then, she should be broken enough to come back to me without hesitation."

"You know", Willow snarled behind him, already raising the Staff, "I'd like to have a say in the matter."

And while Deira was still turning his head to look at her, the Staff came down already, whacking him hard in the middle of the head; his hardened skin took the most of the blow's force, but the impact still had been hard enough to make him grunt, followed by yet another, similar noise when immediately, Pat took the chance given and shot forward, landing on his back and bringing her fists down, fire crackling on and blackening the chitin which made up most of his back and legs.

Snarling audibly, Deira twisted beneath her, clawing at her in an attempt to throw her off; and even though his claws shredded her clothes even more than they already were, and tore fresh gashes into her sides and back, she wouldn't back off, slamming her fists down on him again instead, a malicious smirk curling her lips when the chitin cracked audibly and he let out a cry of real pain.

Clearly, the Staff took this is a signal to increase the force of attack, and Willow almost lost her footing when it jerked forward rather violently; somehow, she managed not to fall over, even though the Staff moved up harshly moments later – and then made the witch wince by snapping down sharply, her grip automatically tightening as one end of the Staff rammed into the crack her partner had created in the demon's outer shell, widening the crack at first, then moving past it, a howl of pain and rage coming from the mantis when he felt it pierce his flesh.

"Pull it out!" Pat snapped, and after a second, Willow realized what she intended to do; and even though the thought made her sick to her stomach, she did as her lover had said, pulling the Staff back out, glad when it didn't try to resist her, and looking away when immediately, Pat rammed a burning fist through the widened crack, Deira's eyes widening at the unbelievable pain this sent all through him.

Growling lowly in the back of her throat, the taller woman didn't let his shouts disturb her, but kept pushing down, her brow furrowing – before, with a gruesomely wet, fleshy noise, her fist burst through the mantis's soft stomach, and he shuddered, coughing up a mouthful of black blood before he slumped down, the only thing now holding him upright being the black haired woman's arm.

Still snarling, Pat pulled back a moment later, and Deira finally did fall down; he twitched a few more times, then coughed up even more blood as he died, the dark liquid staining the carpet and prompting Willow to grimace in disgust.

"Alright", the taller woman grumbled, prompting the witch to look at her again, "now this shirt is definitely ruined."

Unable to hold back a giggle, Willow shook her head in reply, taking a closer look at her partner, at the torn and bloodied and messed up shirt before she replied, her answer causing the demon to let out a slight cough while she scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Now it is ruined?" the redhead wanted to know, shaking her head before, "you mean it wasn't before you put your arm through a demon, when it was just torn and ripped and bloodied?"

"Good point", Pat had to admit, then both of them remembered that Deira had taken down Buffy just minutes ago and both turned to check on her; they found the Slayer still leaning against the wall, clutching her arm, looking back at them miserably.

"I missed all the action", she then complained while Willow put the Staff down, not even noticing anymore how it immediately shrunk, and went to help her up, "and you dirtied my carpet!"

"Sorry bout that", Pat gave back, eying the stain she had caused in said carpet, "I'll pay for the cleaning… Hey, see it that way, at least, it doesn't look like what it is, so the cleaners won't ask any weird questions."

"That's something", Buffy sarcastically replied, making the demon smile slightly at her; then, she went to tell Giles, Xander and Anya that it was safe to come back inside now while Buffy took another look at the killed mantis, asking herself if all their problems really had been solved by his death or if even more trouble was to come and they just weren't aware of it yet.


	15. Chapter 15

"We should all get some rest now", Giles suggested after Deira's body had been stuffed in the trunk of Xander's car, for later disposal, "I believe we can discuss tomorrow what to do with the Staff and if we have to fear any more attacks from the… followers this creature had."

"I don't think so", Pat gave back, having the decency to step out of the house before she lit up a cigarette, suddenly feeling quite exhausted as the past events caught up with her, "but who knows. Let's hope I'm right."

Nodding, Willow gave her a concerned look, noticing how tired she looked all of a sudden; and thus, the redhead asked Xander if he could give them a ride home, smiling gratefully when he nodded at once, reassuring her that it was no problem.

"I'll stuff you into the bathtub the moment we get home", Willow let her partner know as they both got into the car, "and once you scrubbed off all that blood and gore, I'll tuck you in."

"No need for stuffing and tucking", the demon reassured her, sinking into the seat, momentarily asking herself if she'd stain those as well now, then shrugging it off, "I'll do all that voluntarily. I'm quite tired all at once."

"No surprise", Willow mumbled as she made herself comfortable next to her, then grasped her hand, ignoring the fact that it was stained with Deira's blood, some of it still beneath her partner's fingernails and on her skin despite her tries to get it off in Buffy's bathroom, "Iris gave back your strength, but apparently, you're still not fully recovered from what that Lana did to you…"

"Apparently", Pat replied curtly, making it obvious that she wasn't willing to discuss this any further; in response, the witch gave her a brief look, then squeezed her hand, relieved when she earned a weak smile in response.

"I hope you're not getting demon blood all over my seats", Xander then distracted the couple from the memories of the power-stealing Lana, "cause if you do, you'll have to pay for their cleaning, as well, not just for Buffy's carpet."

"No problem", Pat let him know at once, smirking slightly again, "I'm loaded, remember?"

"Yes, which is why she won't work for my delivery service", Anya reminded him of that discussion, something she had brought up a dozen times by now and an idea which had been shot down just as often by the black haired woman, "I still think that is mean."

"You'll survive without one", the demon grumbled in reply, making Anya huff; at least though, her tone of voice had made it clear to the ex-demon that she wasn't willing to discuss this yet again, at least not right now, and thus, the brunette fell quiet, merely looking out the window while Xander drove, all four of them constantly on the lookout for any surprise attacks the followers of Deira might launch against them.

To their relief, nothing happened though, no hooded men jumping out at them from behind buildings or bushes, or trying to attack them from the vehicle they had used to kidnap Willow; not all too long after the departure from Buffy's house, Xander stopped in front of the apartment building the couple lived in, both of them thanking him for the ride before they got out of the car and made their way outside, Pat yawning quite heartily once they had called down the elevator and had stepped inside the cabin.

"Bathtub", Willow reminded her, "just keep your eye open until we made it to our apartment."

"Uh-huh", the demon let out as an answer, making her smile slightly; it didn't take long until the elevator reached the second floor, and they made their way to their apartment, the taller woman immediately moving on to the bathroom after taking off her shoes and jacket.

"Good demon", the witch called after her, making a quick detour to the kitchen; from there, she retrieved a bottle of wine and two glasses, along with an ashtray for her lover, then joined her in the bathroom, not surprised to find the water there running already, filling the tub, while the demon sat on the edge, waiting for it to get full enough so she could get in without freezing her butt off.

"Oh, goodie", Willow commented, smiling as she handed her one of the glasses, then uncorked the bottle and filled it up, "you didn't undress yet. That means I'll get to watch."

"Not sure this will be so nice today", the demon gave back, taking a sip of the wine before she went on, "what with all the blood everywhere."

"Well, that'll be gone soon", Willow shrugged, "then I'll get to enjoy the show. Unless you pour so much bubble bath in it again that I can't see anything."

"I can't help it, I just like bubble bath", Pat gave back, finally deciding that the tub had filled enough and starting to strip out of her clothes as she spoke on, "and if you tell that to Buffy or anyone else of our friends, I'll be really cranky with you."

"I like how even then, you wouldn't be mad", Willow giggled, watching how her partner finished peeling off the ruined shirt, then the rest of her clothing, along with her underwear; momentarily, her heart clenched up at the sight of all the blood, reminding her of all the wounds her partner had taken in the last few hours and of the fact that she had been the cause for most of them, then the demon had stepped into the tub and the foam covered her up to her neck, hiding her bloodied torso and legs from view.

"Oh that feels good", Pat sighed out, only now remembering that she still wore her eyepatch and removing it, not wanting to get the leather wet; then, she sank even deeper into the tub, until the foam almost reached her nose, a content noise escaping her as the hot water soothed her muscles.

"I'm glad", Willow let her know, smiling, "I want you all relaxed and fine for when we go to bed later."

"You do?" Pat smirked, raising an eyebrow; with her smile widening, the redhead nodded, then made the taller woman sigh happily again by holding her cigarettes out to her, prompting her to briefly flame up one hand to dry her fingers before she took one and lit it up, taking a sip of her wine afterwards.

"Best girlfriend ever", she then told Willow, shifting in the tub to get more comfortable, "there's only one thing which would improve all of this even more."

"And what would that be?" the redhead wanted to know, even though she was quite sure she already knew the answer, a suspicion her lover confirmed with her reply. "If you'd join me in here once I cleaned up…"

"Gladly", Willow reassured her, laughing a second later as immediately, Pat grabbed the washcloth and started to scrub the blood off with record speed; still giggling, the witch already started to undress, joining the taller woman in the tub a few minutes later, smiling happily when she immediately was pulled into a tender embrace and they shared a loving kiss, all the pain and fear and terror of the past few hours forgotten as they only focused on each other.

* * *

In the next morning, Willow was, as almost always, the first one to wake up; next to her, Pat still slumbered soundly, one arm caught beneath the pillow the witch's head rested on, the other draped loosely over her waist as she laid on her side, her soft snores mostly muffled by her own pillow.

"Too cute", the witch muttered to herself, then carefully disentangled herself from the taller woman's embrace; she took a moment to stretch before bending down and tenderly kissing her on the cheek, then made her way through the living room and into the kitchen, glancing at the now wrapped up again Staff of Righteousness as she passed it where she had leaned it against the wall the previous evening.

While she started preparing the coffee machine, she thought of the Staff, and how easy it had made fighting for her; she never had been all too good with physical violence, nearly having broken her hand the few rare times she had actually thrown a punch, but with the Staff, it had been so easy to fight efficiently and well, no matter how bad the odds had felt.

And now, after experiencing this herself, she knew why her partner often felt so good after a successful fight; she had to admit that it had been a good feeling to use the Staff to dispose of their opponents, taking them down one by one with such ease that it was almost frightening, a shudder running through her as she thought of how the Staff had widened the crack in Deira's hardened outer shell and had allowed Pat to finish the demon off, something she never would have thought of doing on her own, not even with such an opportunity.

"A dangerous thing, that Staff", she muttered to herself, getting done with the coffee machine at last and moving on to the fridge; she could all too easily imagine how someone might get addicted to the power the Staff gave them, having to admit that, even though she hadn't possessed it for long, she already was reluctant to part with it, despite knowing that it probably would be the wisest thing to do, and that the Staff was too dangerous to be kept around in the long run.

_Especially if it can be used to bring forth yet another apocalypse, _she thought to herself, remembering the plans Deira had had for the Staff and for her, _let's wait what Giles has to say about it, but I'm quite sure I already know…_

"What'cha thinking about?" a low voice came from behind her, even hoarser than usual thanks to the fact that the owner had just gotten out of bed; startled, Willow flinched, then turned around to face her girlfriend, smiling slightly when Pat stepped closer to her and put both arms around her, giving her a questioning look and briefly making her wonder how she had known that something was on her mind before she shrugged it off with the explanation that by now, the demon just knew her well enough to tell from her posture and body language.

"The Staff", she explained, "I thought about how easy it was to fight properly with it, and how dangerous it is… Deira wanted to use it, and me, to cause yet another apocalypse, and when I thought about that, and about how we might have to destroy it, that was kinda upsetting because it made fighting so easy… And that made me realize how dangerous it is."

"One might get kinda addicted to it, I imagine", Pat pondered out loud, saying exactly what the witch had been thinking about, "but not everyone can use it, remember? It sparked me, it didn't react to Buffy, it only worked for you."

"But I already got addicted to power once", Willow reminded her, "to the magic… And you know what they say, once an addict, always an addict. So… I might get addicted to this too, to fighting with the Staff, to the power it gives me…"

"So what do you suggest?" Pat wanted to know, surprisingly coherent and alert, considering the fact she just had gotten out of bed, "that we destroy it?"

"Perhaps", Willow sighed, "or put it somewhere where it's safe, in case we need it again in the future… It would be handy to have around after all, even if we don't use it regularly."

"Good point", the demon agreed, "well, let's see what Giles has to say… I'm sure he'll have an idea by now."

"Most likely", the witch nodded, "I'll call him after breakfast… Coffee is almost done."

"Thank Goodness", Pat sighed, making the redhead giggle at how she acted as if coffee was the one thing which kept her alive, "I'm positively craving for a nice hot sweet coffee by now. What have we got to eat?"

"Whatever you want", Willow shrugged, "you got up and about before I could figure out what to make."

"Alright", the demon smirked, moving to the coffee machine already, "let me get some coffee first and then we can decide on what we want to eat."

"And after breakfast, I'll call Giles", the witch decided, "and ask him when he wants to meet today. And where, I'm quite sure he stayed with Buffy after she injured her arm again last night."

"Oh, that reminds me", Pat gave back, generously spooning sugar into her coffee, "if I manage to not get injured again until tomorrow afternoon, I can heal Buffy then. We should tell her that, just so she won't be too grumpy about her broken arm."

"Good point", Willow nodded her agreement, peering into the fridge as she tried to decide what she wanted to eat, "she'll be happy to hear that. I'm a bit worried though…"

"About what?" Pat wanted to know, frowning as she moved to stand behind her, taking a sip of the coffee while she waited for the redhead to reply, the witch doing so a moment later.

"Well, you didn't heal all your wounds with your demonic powers", she explained, turning to look at her partner and smiling slightly when immediately, the taller woman put one arm around her, "I healed some of them, too, remember? And I'm not sure how borrowing your healing to Buffy might affect the magic I used for that…"

"It shouldn't, right?" Pat frowned, trying to remember the little she knew about healing magic, "I mean, it had nothing to do with the magic I use when I demon out."

"That's it, I'm not sure about that", Willow sighed, turning back to the fridge again and smiling slightly when she felt the taller woman rub her back soothingly, "I didn't use a particular spell, I just… used the magic I have, channelled it… but I'm not sure if it's just mine, or if I tapped into your healing abilities."

"Well, neither of the two options should be influenced by lending my healing to Buffy", Pat shrugged after pondering this for a moment, "and even if it does, you can just heal me again, right?"

"I hope so", Willow gave back, giving her an uneasy look before focusing on the fridge's contents once more, "when I did it back there, in that factory, I was quite upset because I was afraid you might die otherwise, so that might have helped…"

"It'll be alright", Pat decided to go for the reassuring route, moving closer to her and hugging her from behind, "no worries, Sweetie, everything will be just fine and dandy."

"And once again, I wish I had your confidence", the witch gave back, smiling weakly; Pat took a moment to shrug and smirk back at her, then bent forward to tenderly kiss her on the cheek, only to have her lips meet the redhead's as the smaller woman had anticipated her move and had turned her head just in time.

"That always makes me feel better", she mumbled after the kiss, prompting the taller woman to smile and tell her that she was glad to hear that; then, they both focused on the fridge's content fully at last, soon deciding what they wanted to eat, Willow's worries about the Staff and about what borrowing her healing to Buffy might do to Pat at least for the moment forgotten.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: And here's the final chapter. Since it is kinda short, I might start posting the next one earlier than Monday - let's see how it works out with my schedule :D I hope you enjoyed the story :)

* * *

"I thought about destroying the Staff", Giles told them all as they had assembled in Buffy's home a few hours later, the whole gang being present, even Anya, despite the fact that it was a work day and she usually was quite reluctant to close her shop then, "but I do have to admit that I have some doubts about doing so. It is quite a powerful artefact…"

"I thought about the same yesterday", Willow let him know, having made herself comfortable on the couch, with Pat right next to her, the taller woman's hand resting on her upper leg, "it'd be a pity to destroy it, but we have to keep in mind that it's not only powerful, but dangerous, as well."

"I'm well aware of that", Giles reassured her, "but if we don't want this Staff to fall into the wrong hands, we either have to destroy it – or keep it somewhere where it can't be used to do any harm. What exactly was Deira planning to do with the Staff, Willow?"

"Guess what", the witch sighed in reply, once more dismayed about how easily Deira had tricked her into letting the torc take control of the dark magic within her, "he wanted to use it, and me, to cause yet another apocalypse. He must have planned this very well, he knew that the first thing I'd do would be to find out if he told the truth about that torc…"

"They also must know me well", Pat threw in with a frown, "to figure out I'd take those bolts when he had his men fire them at you from that van."

"I'm afraid that's quite common knowledge by now among the non-human population of Sunnydale", Buffy was the one to answer that before anyone else could, giving the demon an almost apologetic look, "they may call you Slayer's Pet, but they also know how far you're willing to go to protect Willow."

"Great, just great", Pat grumbled, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of them up, glad when no one tried to protest, "so, just to make sure, if they want to take me out during future fights, they'll go after Willow."

"I told you", Willow admonished in reply, giving her a strict look, "you're too reckless when it comes to protecting me. One of these days, that'll get you killed, and what will I do then?"

"Cry?" the taller woman replied with the first thing which came to her mind, only to cringe at the withering look she received in reply; clearing her throat, she was thankful moments later when Giles brought the topic back to the Staff, asking once more what the others thought should be done with it.

"Well, I don't think destroying it is a good idea", Buffy was the first one to put in her opinion, "it might be dangerous, yes, but it has been very helpful, and seeing how often the two of you end up attacked at your own home, it might be good to have something around which will help you fight, just in case Pat's… indisposed."

"Good point", Willow had to admit, "but I have to admit, I am a bit afraid of relying on the Staff too much in the future… You saw how easy fighting with it was for me, so of course there's always the temptation to use it as an easy way out…"

"Most of the fighting will still be done by me", Pat told her in a strict voice, her tone making it clear that she wasn't willing to discuss this, "even if you are capable of easily kicking ass with that Staff, I can heal. You can't."

"A good point", Giles nodded, making them both look at him again, "and, just in case the Staff does have some… unpleasant side effects, it can still be removed from your possession and destroyed after all."

"Yes", Willow agreed after a moment, even though she wasn't as sure as the Watcher that removing the Staff would be as easy as he was making it seem right now, should she really get addicted to the power it gave her; clearly sensing her doubts, Pat patted her leg reassuringly, then looked at the rest of the group, curious if any of them had any doubts. If they had though, they didn't voice them, merely nodding their agreement to Giles' suggestion; and so, it was settled rather quickly that the Staff would remain in Willow's possession for now, even though the witch still felt a bit uneasy about the whole idea.

"Let's hope we won't have to use it any time soon", Buffy stated after the decision had been made, "and not only because I had my arm broken. After all these adventures lately, we deserve some calm and quiet."

"Speaking of your broken arm", the demon remembered the other topic her partner and she had discussed at breakfast, "tomorrow, once the twenty-four hours are up, I can heal you. No more broken arm then."

"Oh thank God", Buffy sighed out in response, "and, you know what? I can't believe I didn't think of this myself. How often have we borrowed your healing by now?"

"I stopped counting", the taller woman smirked, prompting the blonde to roll her eyes, "but hey, as long as one of us thinks of it…"

"Indeed", Giles nodded, then changed the topic once more by asking Pat if she could take over patrol for the coming night, since Buffy still would be unable to fight then, the taller woman nodding at once; and while they started talking about it, Willow leaned back into the seat comfortably, smiling at her lover's enthusiasm about getting to fight again so shortly after yet another demon with malicious intentions had been defeated, glad that once more, they had come out victorious and that at least until the next challenge, they'd have some time to relax and enjoy each other's company, without having to worry about any threats the supernatural world of Sunnydale might throw at them.

End.


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